COVINGTON, Ky. — Drivers will be seeing more police on Interstate 71/75 in Northern Kentucky.

Officers say they're fed up with speeding, distracted driving and crashes, so they're out in force to slow things down.

Fort Mitchell police have been driving the effort. In two hours during the first day of enforcement on the crackdown, they said they issued 50 citations, including 38 for speeding.

They pulled in other agencies for the enforcement, saying crashes have jumped about 15 percent this year along I-71/75. As of Tuesday, there had been about 218 crashes this year, and 48 people have been hurt. Anyone who drives it knows how it can be.

"Well, traffic is a nightmare in the morning, every day," Misty Caudill of Walton said.

Police said drivers should expect to see the effort expanded over the next few weeks.

"We will be out there in force, in a group effort," Fort Mitchell Police Chief Andrew Shierberg said. "Not just on 75 — there are plans for 275 as well, so that we can really just help reduce the number of interstate accidents that are happening."

Authorities are also concerned by drivers ignoring the state's "move over" law. Two Kenton County Sheriff's vehicles have even been hit this year, prompting the plan for a crackdown.

"They will see us, and hopefully with that in the back of their mind, it makes them just kind of police themselves a little bit better as they are driving down the road," Shierberg said.

The extra enforcement is being funded by overtime grants for several departments, so they expect the blitz to continue for a while.