Police To Use Radar

On Lake Zoar

MONROE (AP) — Police have expanded their speed traps from roads and highways to the waters of Lake Zoar.

Beginning May 20 Lake Zoar Authority police will use radar for the first time to enforce speeding laws.

The speed limit on the popular 11-mile lake is 45 mph during the day and 25 mph after sunset. But because they never had the right monitoring equipment, the authority’s police patrols have never issued speeding tickets.

The proposal to bring radar patrols to the lake was made this spring by Lake Zoar Police Chief Joseph Steinfeld.

“We’d written tickets for the reckless operation of boats and issued warnings and infractions,”’ he said. “But that was all.”

Similar radar checks currently operate on Candlewood Lake and Lake Lillinonah. Bruce Lockart, executive director of the Candlewood Lake Authority, said it has been an effective deterrent.

“It’s certainly reduced speed on our lake,” he said.

Lake Zoar, which begins in Monroe and winds through Oxford, Southbury, and Newtown, is patrolled by police hired by the authority from the four municipalities.

Patrols are made every weekend and sometimes during weekdays and at night between May and the end of September.

This is not the first attempt to bring radar to the lake, said Authority Chairman Howard Saad.

“We tried at different times using land-based units on a ramp with a police car but that didn’t work,” he said. “We didn’t prosecute anyone for speeding, but that will all change now.”