Mass. State Police continue added patrols for speeders

As drivers slowly begin to get back on the road, Massachusetts State Police want people to be aware that there are extra patrols out there for speeders.

“The good news is that people, by and large, are staying off the roads, but the bad news is that they are turning our roadways into race tracks,” said Cathy Chase, the president of a group called Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety.

In April, despite about 50% less traffic compared to the same time last year, there were more deaths on the road, and speed was one of the factors.

“There is a ripple effect by people deciding to speed, they are endangering themselves, they are endangering all road users and they are endangering law enforcement who will have to pull them over,” Chase said. “And when a police officer pulls someone over, they don’t know if that person is ill or not so there are a number of layers of complexity and danger involved.”

State Police added patrols in four-hour blocks starting April 26 and since then they have added 840 citations and warnings.

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That breaks down to 537 speeding tickets, 197 speed warnings and the rest were citations, such as violations of the hands-free, child seat, move over or seat belt laws.

In just one day, May 12, Troop C, which covers central Massachusetts, made 47 stops and issued 37 citations and 10 warnings. State Police said that two of those citations were for drivers allegedly going over 100 mph and 17 drivers were going between 90 and 98 mph.

“At a time when our nation is experiencing a crisis and our emergency rooms are already overburdened, people really should not be using the open roadways for joy rides, they should be obeying all traffic safety laws,” Chase said.

The total number of citations across the state is down and so are the number of crashes compared to last year, according to data from the Department of Transportation. But again, despite all this, the number of deaths during the same period on the road was higher than this time last year.

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