Officials say crackdown on speeding will last all summer

Officials at the Department of Public Safety are so fed up with increased speeding on state roads — and its resulting high death toll — that they are planning to carry out an education and enforcement campaign that will last the entire summer.

Crackdowns typically last anywhere from a few days to a couple of weeks and occasionally for a month. But with traffic fatalities already alarmingly high and the busiest travel season yet to come, law enforcement will work overtime every day from Memorial Day to Labor Day to pull over lead-footed drivers, said Mike Hanson, director of the department’s office of traffic safety.

“We are doing something unprecedented to bring sanity to our roads,” Hanson said. “When a small percentage of drivers think the rules [of the road] don’t apply, that is when there is chaos and tragedy.”

And there has been plenty of that. As February drew to a close, 50 people had lost their lives in crashes this year in Minnesota. That’s 18 more deaths than during the first two months of last year and the most in that time period over the past five years, state data shows.

“These are numbers we don’t see at this time of year when you have a normal January and February,” Hanson said.

The absence of a traditional Minnesota winter has contributed to the grim and troublesome statistics, Hanson said. Crash numbers typically go up during January and February due to icy and snowy roads. However, a majority of them are of the fender-bender variety because speeds generally are slower, Hanson said.

This year, dry roads have led to fewer wrecks, Hanson said. But without conditions forcing drivers to slow down, speeds are way up, and crashes, when they happen, have turned deadly.

“Speeding makes everything worse,” Hanson said. “A crash brings energy, and energy determines the outcome.”

Impaired driving also has been a big factor in this year’s deaths. Of the 50 reported as of Feb. 29, 12 were attributed to drivers being under the influence. There were eight impaired-related deaths at this time last year, public safety data shows.

“What we are seeing are a lot of high-risk and dangerous driving we see in the summer,” Hanson said. “We need everybody to step back from the driver’s door and think about the decisions they make behind the wheel.”

Armed with $2 million awarded last year by the Legislature, the traffic safety office will provide grants to more than 300 agencies across the state to pay troopers, sheriff’s deputies and local police departments to do the extra enforcement. That could include high visibility saturation exercises or what many people call speed traps.

The money also will cover media campaigns to educate drivers on why it’s important to obey the speed limit.

“Policymakers sent a loud and clear message: Make Minnesota roads safer,” Hanson said. “This is an all-hands-on-deck effort. We are working to make them safer.”