Speed Enforcement and Traffic Services
Speeding endangers everyone on the road.
- In 2019, speeding killed 9,478 (26% of all traffic fatalities).
We all know the frustrations of modern life and juggling a busy schedule, but speed limits are put in place to protect all road users. Learn about the dangers of speeding and why faster doesn’t mean safer.
Troopers Use Low Profile Tahoes To Address Recent Speeding Surge
During calendar year 2020 there were 641 Arkansas deaths resulting from motor vehicle crashes, a 27% increase over the previous year. The number of highway crash deaths has already surpassed 400 this year.
Colonel Bryant testified before a General Assembly sub-committee earlier this summer [2021] that Arkansas has not escaped a national epidemic of lawlessness on the nation’s highways. He told the legislators,
“. . . law abiding Arkansas motorists are finding themselves confronted with new threats on the highways and more frequently than ever before.”
Last year Arkansas troopers stopped 2,030 drivers who were traveling at 100 miles per hour, or faster, an increase of more than 100 percent from 2019 among violators exceeding the 100 miles per hour speed.
The three digit speed violations in 2021 have already surpassed all last year with troopers issuing 2,381 tickets to violators between January – June this year for speeds between 100 – 160 miles per hour.
Cumulatively this year (*January - August) state troopers have issued 52,593 citations for various speeding and dangerous or aggressive driving type violations.
The anomaly of faster speeding violations has been compounded by a brazen spike in incidences of drivers refusing to stop when state troopers attempt to initiate traffic stops.
Over the past five years troopers in Arkansas have documented a 98 percent increase in pursuits involving drivers who choose to flee rather than pull-over for the initial violation. In the metropolitan Little Rock/Central Arkansas area pursuits are up 170 percent since 2016.
Colonel Bryant told legislators, “When a driver makes the conscious choice to flee from law enforcement they increase their speed, drive erratically, weave in and out of traffic, passing other vehicles on the highway shoulder; they’re putting innocent lives at risk for no reason other than they refuse to stop for the initial traffic violation.”
Read ASP Full Press Release, Click here.
Based On NHTSA's Research
The 5-year moving average from 2000 through 2009 shows speed related fatalities are on the rise again. Total fatalities fell from a high of 106 in 2005 to 63 for 2008 but rose to 105 in 2009. Speed enforcement will be integrated into STEP project enforcement criteria in 2012.
The goal of the projects funded in the Speed Enforcement Program is to maintain the number of speeding related fatalities at the five year (2005-2009) average of 87 through 2012.
The strategies of projects for the speeding component are:
- To achieve an average of three vehicle stops per hour during enforcement periods.
- To conduct one wave of increased, high visibility enforcement emphasizing enforcement of speeding laws.
- To conduct PI&E activities as a component of all enforcement projects.
- To conduct a statewide public information and education and enforcement campaign that will emphasize speed laws.
- To conduct sustained low-visibility traffic enforcement using stealth patrol vehicles.
