Police launch initiative to combat speeding

Special to the News-Times Arkansas law enforcement officers have launched a speed enforcement blitz with additional patrols to stop speeding drivers.

Operating under the tagline, “Obey the Sign or Pay the Fine”, state troopers, sheriff’s deputies and local police officers have committed to confront the safety threat caused by drivers who ignore the posted speed limit on Arkansas highways and local streets.

Continuing through Sunday, July 18, the intensified enforcement operation will involve law enforcement officers from state and local departments, big and small.

“Speeding violations across Arkansas have been trending upward over the past 18 months, correlating with an increase we’ve witnessed in total fatalities from motor vehicle crashes,” said Colonel Bill Bryant, director of the Arkansas State Police.

“When a driver increases the speed of a vehicle, it reduces the reaction time the driver has to safely react to unexpected hazards and too often the end result is serious injury or death to drivers and passengers,” Bryant added.

During calendar year 2019, the United States Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) documented 26%

of all traffic fatalities, or 132 lives lost, in speeding related crashes.

Nationally, about 15% of the speeding related fatalities occur on interstate highways annually. Speed also affects safety even when a vehicle is being driven at the speed limit but too fast for road conditions, such as during bad weather, when a road is under repair or in an area at night that is not well lit.

NHTSA considers a crash to be speed related if a driver was charged with exceeding the posted speed limit or if the driver was driving too fast for conditions.

For more information on the “Obey the Sign, or Pay the Fine” mobilization, visit trafficsafetymarketing.gov or contact the Arkansas Highway Safety Office at (501) 6188136.

According to the Arkansas State Police, as of Tuesday, 292 fatal car accidents had occurred in Arkansas so far this year, and 326 people had lost their lives on Arkansas highways in 2021 alone.

For more on Arkansas’ ongoing Toward Zero Deaths campaign to eliminate preventable traffic fatalities, visit www. TZDarkansas.org