MADISON, WI (WTAQ) — Wednesday was Speed Enforcement Day in Wisconsin; about 100 law enforcement agencies, including the Wisconsin State Patrol, joined officers from 11 states across the Midwest to step up patrols during the 24 hour enforcement effort.
In 2016, the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police founded Illinois Speed Awareness Day.
“We were seeing a high percentage of fatal and personal injury traffic crashes occurring in the state of Illinois that were all speed related,” said Jim Wolf, Central/Southern Illinois Law Enforcement Liaison. “So the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police decided to create a statewide initiative for 24 hours for agencies to step up enforcement in regards to speed violations.”
The initiative was suspended with the onset of COVID19, and was reinstated in 2022 as National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Region 5, including Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin in the enforcement effort.
In 2023, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska joined the effort in NHTSA Region 7.
Dan Diedrich with the Wisconsin State Patrol says Wisconsin’s event was successful, and they were able to provide good information to many Wisconsin drivers.
“We try to focus our efforts not only on the major interstate corridors, but we also looked at some of the county roads and state roads that see just as much speed activity and maybe don’t get the attention they deserve,” said Diedrich.
The goal of Speed Awareness Day is to educate the community on the dangers of speeding and save lives. Traffic crashes are more harmful when they involve high speeds. In 2022, 162 people were killed and more than 6,500 were hurt in speed-related crashes.
The consequences of speeding include:
- Greater potential for loss of vehicle control
- Reduced seat belt effectiveness
- Increased stopping distance
- Increased risk of severe injuries
- Increased fuel consumption
Diedrich noted that excessive speeding tends to increase during the summer months; but it isn’t just speeding causing problems. It’s distracted driving, too.
Officials say final numbers and statistics from Wednesday will come out in about one week.
