Is a tougher approach curbing some of Milwaukee's reckless driving? The city attorney thinks so

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- City officials released new numbers this week they believe is evidence of a tougher approach to reckless driving making the streets safer. City Attorney Evan Goyke maintained a directive to no longer allow plea deals in such cases is contributing to a decline in traffic deaths.

There's no proof of causation, but Milwaukee recorded 55 traffic deaths in 2025 compared to 74 in 2023. 

Goyke said he believes one of the factors in that decline is a commitment to prosecuting first offense reckless driving cases under the original charge.

Under a 2023 Wisconsin law, second and subsequent offenses for reckless driving are criminal charges, punishable by jail time. First offenses are treated as a municipal traffic violation, similar to how Wisconsin treats first offenses for drunk driving.

Goyke said in 2023, 65% of Milwaukee's first offense reckless driving were eventually pleaded or amended to lesser charges in municipal court. Following an October 2024 change in policy, no such cases have been pleaded down.

"The message that I want to get out is that if you're cited for reckless driving, we're gonna get a conviction," Goyke said. "We're gonna take it to trial if we need to, we're gonna prove it."

As a result of the change, Milwaukee reports 84% of reckless driving cases in municipal court resulted in a conviction on that charge last year. In 2023, only 14% of reckless driving cases resulted in a conviction on the original charge.

"It is a ticket, but it is a heavy ticket," Goyke said. "It's, I think, six points. It's about $900, so that is a lot of money."

Jeanne Lupo is the president of Enough is Enough, a group dedicated to monitoring how Milwaukee County courts handle cases involving drivers fleeing police.

The organization was created by friends and family of Erin Mogensen, a 32-year-old pregnant woman who was killed by a reckless driver in 2023.

Lupo said she was encouraged by the decline in traffic deaths, and noted the group's tracking has found Milwaukee county went from averaging 64 fleeing cases filed per month in 2024 to 67 per month in 2025.

This year, the group's data only go through April, which found an average of 60 cases per month. Lupo said the community still has a lot more to do when it comes to curbing reckless driving.

"I am not convinced, however, that we have arrived at the "heart" just yet," she said in a statement to CBS 58 Thursday. "The amount of work, monetary investment and emotional divide about solutions is exorbitant and it revolves around human behaviors and characteristics of a few that are negatively impacting the majority; behaviors that challenge the rules of law and the basic value of humanity."

Goyke did not have figures about how many of the recent convictions have been people who later reoffended, getting criminal charges in the process.

However, he said the directive was aimed at ensuring reckless drivers could not keep reoffending and relying on the fact they had no prior convictions because the city reduced those previous charges.

"You cannot be subject to those heightened criminal penalties for second or subsequent offense if you don't have a first," he said. "So, what we're doing in our lane and in our jurisdiction, is setting up the criminal system to do what it's empowered to do in its lane."