The police will be watching the roads near Oakland University entrances extra closely for the next few Wednesdays.

OU Police Department and Auburn Hills Police Department are teaming up to try to “Stop Accidents From Escalating” with the program S.A.F.E. Streets, by specifically targeting and ticketing drivers who speed, follow other drivers too closely, fail to stop at stop signs and yield at yield signs.

AHPD will be monitoring various locations in Auburn Hills. And AHPD and OUPD will collaborate on monitoring University Drive between Pontiac Road and OU’s main entrance, and Squirrel Road between Cross Creek Parkway and Walton Boulevard. OU’s entrance on Walton Boulevard is not targeted for this program.

They will watch from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sept. 23, Oct. 7 and Oct. 21, which are all Wednesdays.

The first day of the program was Sept. 16, and they ticketed 15 drivers within that four-hour period, said OUPD Captain Mark Gordon.

Gordon said S.A.F.E. Streets is a nation-wide program, and AHPD started it locally in 2005. In April 2008, AHPD started collaborating with OUPD to cover areas near the university.

Gordon said in three days that month, they gave out 23 tickets. He said this amount, as well as the 15 tickets last Wednesday, is far higher than the amount of tickets that would be typically given during that period on normal days.

“We’re trying to make a difference in traffic violations,” Gordon said.

OUPD’s website (www.police.oakland.edu) said this educational program “has led to a significant reduction of traffic crashes throughout our community.”

OUPD also started a campus-wide outdoor live audio announcement broadcasting system this semester.

The older blue light emergency phones located around campus were replaced with newer ones, with the added ability to work as loudspeakers in cases of emergencies, Gordon said.

People can still use the phones to be call OUPD emergency dispatch center.

The outdoor broadcasting system was funded by a grant OUPD received in 2008 from Emergency Management for Higher Education, a government-sponsored program.

OUPD also urges students, faculty and staff to sign up for its cell phone emergency alert system at its website, which sends text messages and/or voice messages to registered phones in cases of emergency.

This system was implemented fall 2008, and used to inform people in several cases, most notably during a bomb scare in April 2009.

During an emergency, call OUPD at (248)-370-3331 or text/email [email protected].