Watch out for speed traps in late June, as Michigan law officers are going to crack down on speeding drivers as part of a new safety campaign over the next week.
Michigan law enforcement officers will put more focus on stopping speeding drivers between June 19 and 27 in hopes of decreasing fatal traffic accidents, the Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning (OHSP) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced Thursday.
Since the start of the pandemic, law enforcement agencies have seen an “alarming” rise in speeding and fatal crashes, the organizations report. In an attempt to hinder this increase, the offices partnered with five other states on a new traffic safety campaign called “Great Lakes, High Stakes.”
More than 30 municipal, county, and Michigan State Police law enforcement agencies will be part of the campaign to stop speeding drivers statewide.
The inspiration for the program comes from the landmark influx of deadly accidents in 2020. While the pandemic may have slowed traffic across the country, fatal crashes actually increased over the past year.
There has been a 10 percent upsurge in Michigan fatalities since 2019. Speed-related fatalities in particular have increased by about 8 percent over the last year, the OHSP reports.
The OHSP also shares these facts from 2020 to Michigan drivers, courtesy of the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute:
- Out of male drivers involved in all traffic crashes in 2020, 6.4 percent were speeding.
- 15.2 percent of motorcycle riders involved in fatal crashes were speeding.
- 11.2 percent of drivers in the 15- to 20-year-old age group involved in crashes (4,650 out of 41,685) were speeding.
- Out of all drivers who were drinking in crashes, 15.1 percent were speeding.
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