Despite a warning on our blog that police would be out in full force looking for speeders, nearly 15,000 Minnesotans were ticketed during the recent crackdown.
As we noted on our blog, the speeding crackdown ran from July 6 to July 22 and involved agencies all over the state. According to the data, authorities issued 14,661 speeding tickets and 1,625 seatbelt citations during the 17-day crackdown.
Reasons People Sped
As is often the case when police release data from crackdowns, they also released some of the more interesting stories they heard from individuals who were trying to get out of a ticket or explain why they felt the need to speed. Here are just a few of the reasons police heard as to why some people had the pedal to the metal.
- A driver going 99 mph said he was “trying to make it to Taco Bell before it closed.”
- A motorcyclist going 120 mph was channeling his inner Ricky Bobby when he told the officer that he wanted “to go fast.”
- A person caught going 30 miles over the speed limit told the officer that they were “nowhere near the speed limit.”
- Another person who was cited for going 10 miles over the speed limit told the officer they had just got a new glass cake pan and were excited to get home and bake.
- A driver who was ticketed twice within a half-hour span by two different officers said that his AC was broken and he was speeding with the windows down in order to stay cool.
- 25 individuals were caught going over 100 mph when they were stopped.
The police officers weren’t very lenient during the crackdown because speed is one of the four fatal characteristics of traffic accidents. Speeding plays a role in about 1 in 4 traffic accidents. The other three dangerous driving maneuvers are drunk driving, distracted driving and failing to wear a seat belt.
The crackdown was coordinated by the Minnesota Department of Traffic safety and overtime was funded by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
If you were caught in the crackdown, or if you earned a speeding ticket on your way to work today, be sure to fight the citation in court. You can challenge it alone, or if you face the prospect of losing your license or seeing a big increase in insurance premiums, make sure you talk to a Twin Cities traffic ticket attorney like Avery Appelman. He’s won countless traffic cases, and he knows the best ways to challenge them in court. For more information, or to set up a free consultation with Avery and his team, reach out to his office at (952) 224-2277 today.
