MINNESOTA TO CRACK DOWN ON SPEEDING

One week ago in the Minneapolis Star Tribune was an article reporting that starting Monday, June 22, there would be a massive effort by the State Patrol and other law enforcement agencies to crack down on excessive speeding. In April and May of this year the article noted that the State Patrol alone ticketed 232 drivers who were caught going 100 mph or more. This compares with 93 such tickets during the same time frame in 2019. And not unexpectedly 179 of those 232 drivers were 30 years of age or younger.

This substantial increase in the number of people driving at incredibly reckless speeds seems to have coincided with the effects of Covid 19 on traffic in general. Minneapolis/St. Paul area traffic was down about 65% from normal starting around April 12 which is exactly when the State Patrol started seeing an increase in speeding.

Statistically, speeding has contributed to 36 fatalities in Minnesota in 2020 compared with 27 at the same time last year.

Minnesota is not the only state observing this phenomenon of increased numbers of very high speed driving. California and Iowa have both reported instances of speeders going in excess of 150 mph!

The Minnesota Department of Public Safety also plans heightened enforcement of the state's hands free driving Law from August 1 through August 8. So no texting while driving.