Law enforcement effort targets motorists not obeying speed limits

Drivers ignoring speed limits will be the focus of an upcoming law enforcement initiative across the state.

Continuing through Sunday, officers will be participating in a speed enfacement blitz with additional patrols to stop speeding drivers.

As part of the “Obey the Sign or Pay the Fine,” operation, state troopers, sheriff’s deputies and local police officers have committed to confront the safety threat caused by drivers who choose to ignore the posted speed limit on Arkansas highways and local streets,’ according to a press release from Arkansas State Police announcing the enforcement effort.

“This intensified enforcement operation will involve law enforcement officer from state and local departments, big and small,” said Col. Bill Bryant, director of the Arkansas State Police and the Governor’s Highway Safety Representative.

“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 said.

During 2019, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) documented 26 percent of all traffic fatalities, or 132 lives lost, were in speeding-related crashes.

Nationally, about 15 percent 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, according to Bryant.

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.