Cracking down on speeding and reckless driving on our rural roads. That’s what state troopers did for the last three months, beefing up patrols on back roads.
For some drivers on rural roads in Connecticut, speeders are a fact of life that leaves them shaking their heads.
Stream Connecticut News for free, 24/7, wherever you are.
WATCH HERE“It’s really scary because I feel like one wrong turn, you total your car,” Kaitlyn Cortez, of Wallingford, said.
“They’re having problems just as well as the inner cities. It makes no difference where people are,” Leslie Bird, of Hartford, said.
Get top local Connecticut stories delivered to you every morning with the News Headlines newsletter.
SIGN UP But state troopers made their presence known during a three-month period of beefed patrols on back roads across the state. It was all thanks to a $2 million federal grant to fund the High-Risk Rural Roads Enforcement Campaign.
“The main point we’re getting out there is that we were out there. We’re on rural roads as much as we are on limited access highways and interstates,” Trooper Daniel Hill said.
He said the campaign was effective, resulting in nearly 3,000 traffic stops with about 2,100 citations written, with a vast majority being speeding tickets.
Local
He used the arrest of a driver going more than 130 miles an hour in Durham as an egregious example.
“You’re doing it for likes. You’re doing it for views, but then again it gives off the wrong image to other people and other people may think they’re able to do it,” Hill said.
He said drivers in these areas may not be used to seeing police patrolling around and said it’s all about educating them on making safer decisions.
“The goal is to just give that ticket with understanding that that person will not speed again. It’s a learning opportunity for everybody,” Hill said.
Some drivers welcome the crackdown on speeding, saying there needs to be accountability.
“Maybe they’ll be more conscious that they will get caught. There are consequences,” Bird said.
State police say even though the campaign has ended, they will still be patrolling those rural areas and pull over any speeding or reckless driver they see.
