Speed Week In New York Starts Thursday

When I first saw the headline that New York's Speed Week was starting this Thursday, June 11th I was excited. I had visions of NASCAR racing, dirt track or even drag racing. Sadly, that's not at all what it means. Actually, to the contrary Speed Week signifies a crackdown on speeding the Empire State.

I know during "The Pause" it got to be a bit on the loose side one the roadways. People were driving like we were in a Mad Max movie. As a matter of fact the New York State Police were told in April to not really enforce speeding and minor traffic offenses because of the coronavirus pandemic. We got a word in May that enforcement would begin again. Since then we've seen a lot more state police running radar sitting in the medians of New York highways.

So, starting tomorrow there is a statewide initiative to ticket speeders, aggressive drivers, and drivers who violate the state's "Move Over" law especially in work zones. Both marked and unmarked vehicles will be used.

According to the Institute for Traffic Safety Management and Research at the University of Albany last year, troopers issued 13,016 tickets for speeding, 571 for distracted driving, and 416 for violations of the "Move Over" law.

New York State Police Speed week starts tomorrow, Thursday, June 11th and runs through Wednesday, June 16th. Look for additional Troopers on the road and being more visible then they have been in weeks past.

So, slow down, don't tailgate, use your turn signal and move over for emergency vehicles.....at least for the next 7 days.