July 7, 2025
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — As part of the high-visibility enforcement campaign, Speeding Slows You Down, the Arkansas Highway Safety Office along with Arkansas law enforcement and the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reminds everyone that speeding has life-threatening consequences and to obey speed limits. From July 9 – 31, State Police Troopers, sheriff’s deputies and city police officers will join this campaign by providing high-visibility patrols and issuing speeding citations to drivers breaking the law.
Communities across America are affected every year by fatalities that occur in speeding-related crashes. In 2023, there were 11,775 traffic fatalities that involved speeding, accounting for 29% of that year’s traffic fatalities. Speeding fatalities are not just an issue nationally, but in Arkansas for 2023, one of five traffic fatalities were speeding related.
Speed limits are set to keep all road users safe,” reminds Arkansas Public Safety Secretary Colonel Mike Hagar. “They minimize the likelihood of crashes and the force of a crash’s impact on a person’s body, which dramatically increases with each additional 10 miles per hour of speed. When a driver or motorcyclist drives above the speed limit, they are acting with no regard for their life, the lives of others on the road, and the law. That remains true regardless of the reason a person chooses to drive over the speed limit,” he said.
Speeding is an aggressive and deadly behavior. It reduces a driver’s ability to steer safely around another vehicle, a hazardous object, or an unexpected curve.
According to NHTSA, local roads are more dangerous than highways for speeders. It’s a common misconception that speeding is an interstate-related issue. In fact, in 2023, 88% of all speeding-related traffic fatalities in the United States occurred on routes other than interstates.
Drivers in neighborhoods, school zones, or secondary roads should be especially aware of this campaign and their speed. Local roads are where most of our speeding-related crashes occur. Arkansas law enforcement officers will be concentrating their efforts in these areas.
For more information, please visit www.nhtsa.gov/risky-driving/speeding or call the Arkansas Highway Safety Office at (501) 618-8136, and go to https://www.tzdarkansas.org/ to learn about Arkansas’ Toward Zero Deaths campaign to eliminate preventable traffic fatalities.
Additional Information Contact:
ASP Highway Safety Office – Bridget White
(501) 618-8230
[email protected]