(LITTLE ROCK) – Arkansas law enforcement officers will be working overtime shifts and regular patrols committed to the assignment of making state highways and streets safer by stopping drivers who don’t obey the speed limit.  The special enforcement operation will begin today (Monday, July 15^th) and continue through Sunday, July 21st.

  “Obey the Sign or Pay the Fine” is a coordinated effort aimed at stopping drivers who exceed the posted speed limit along streets and highways they’re traveling.  The intensified enforcement effort underscores the severity of the problem, both locally and across the nation.

  “Speeding translates into injury and death on our roadways,” said Colonel Bill Bryant, Director of the Arkansas State Police and the Governor’s Highway Safety Representative.  “It greatly reduces a driver’s ability to steer safely around another vehicle, a hazardous object on the roadway or an unexpected change in the highway, such as a sharp curve.”

  During calendar year 2017, speeding was a contributing factor in 26 percent of all fatal crashes in the U.S., accounting for more than 9,700 deaths.

  “Speeding drivers put themselves, their passengers and other drivers at tremendous risk,” Colonel Bryant stated, “and the Arkansas State Police is prepared to dedicate whatever resources necessary to stop speeders and make the highways safer.”

  According to records from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), a motor vehicle crash on a road with a speed limit of 65 miles per hour or greater, is more than twice as likely to result in a fatality than a crash on a road with a speed limit of 45 or 50 MPH and nearly five times as likely from a crash on a road with a speed limit of 40 mph or below.  Each year across the nation approximately 15 percent of the speeding-related fatalities occur on interstate highways.

  Driver and passenger safety is also compromised when a vehicle is traveling at the speed limit but too fast for road conditions, such as during inclement weather, along sections of roads that are being repaired or during evening hours when a road may not be adequately illuminated.

  NHTSA officials consider a motor vehicle crash to be speed related when a driver is charged with exceeding the posted speed limit or driving too fast for conditions.

  For more information on the “Obey the Sign, or Pay the Fine” mobilization, please visit www.trafficsafetymarketing.gov or contact the Arkansas Highway Safety Office at (501) 618-8136. For more on Arkansas’ ongoing Toward Zero Deaths campaign to eliminate preventable traffic fatalities, visit www.TZDarkansas.org.