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Law Enforcement in Iowa to Participate in First NHTSA Regional Speed Enforcement

News

September 22nd, 2016 by Ric Hanson

DES MOINES, Iowa — Motorists enjoying the first signs of fall are advised to maintain the speed limit.  From September 23-25, the Iowa State Patrol will join participating law enforcement from Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, Arkansas and Oklahoma in a Regional Speed Enforcement Campaign. Officers will be on the lookout for those who are traveling above the speed limit on all roadways.

The Patrol’s Colonel Michael VanBerkum says “The main goal of the Iowa State Patrol is to help ensure that all who travel on Iowa’s roadways arrive to their destination, and arrive there safely.ISP patch The campaign is aimed to modify unsafe driver behavior through concerted enforcement efforts.”

Sgt. Nate Ludwig with the Iowa State Patrol says “Speeding is a serious problem on Iowa roadways and has contributed to multiple traffic crashes, especially those that resulted in deaths. Too many of our fellow citizens are impacted by drivers who drive too fast for the road conditions or exceed the speed limit. In order to get drivers to slow down and reduce the number of crashes and fatalities, we plan to intensify enforcement of posted speed limits in Iowa.”

The Iowa State Patrol will be working with county and local law enforcement this weekend across the state, with primary efforts on Interstate 35 and Highway 30.

Pat Hoye, Chief of the Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau, said “There has been a significant increase in Iowa fatalities, currently Iowa  has seen an increase of 18% from this time last year.” Nationwide, 27% of crash fatalities in 2015 were related to a driver exceeding the speed limit or driving too fast for conditions. Fully 86 percent of all speeding-related traffic fatalities occurred on local roads — where the posted speed limits were 55 miles per hour or under.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), a crash on a road with a speed limit of 65 mph or greater is more than twice as likely to result in a fatality than a crash on a road with a speed limit of 45 or 50 mph and nearly five times as likely as a crash on a road with a speed limit of 40 mph or below.