Police in 11 states step up speeding enforcement on I-80

Larry Copeland | USA TODAY

A stern warning for travelers on Interstate 80 from California to New Jersey: Don't speed.

Troopers in 11 states along I-80 are stepping up enforcement beginning Wednesday and lasting through July 31. — which is annually one of the deadliest periods for crashes on that highway.

The "I-80 Challenge," which employs the slogan "More Cops, More Stops," was implemented by the Iowa Department of Public Safety after it analyzed crash data and found that summer was the deadliest time for crashes along the 2,900-mile stretch of interstate.

The goal of the campaign is zero fatalities through the end of the month along I-80, which stretches from Teaneck, N.J., to San Francisco..

In the three-year period 2009-2011, there were 350 fatalities on all of I-80, according to Patrick Hoye, chief of the Iowa Governor's Traffic Safety Bureau, citing data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The new enforcement initiative will not require additional funds, he said. "This is just each state committing officers to the challenge," he said.

Participating in the effort are state police in California, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, along with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the agency that regulates trucking safety, according to organizers.

I-80 is the USA's second longest interstate, trailing only Interstate 90, which stretches 3,021 miles from Seattle, Wash., to Boston, according to the Federal Highway Administration.

The I-80 Challenge is believed to be among the largest joint law enforcement efforts in recent memory, said Jonathan Adkins, deputy executive director of the Governors Highway Safety Association. It builds on the success of smaller regional joint law enforcement efforts like "100 Days of Heat" in the South or the "Smooth Operator" program in the Mid-Atlantic region, he said.

"In the new highway (funding) bill, Congress made it easier for states to do joint efforts like this," Adkins said. "Prior to (that bill), it was very hard for states to spend money for joint enforcement programs. I would expect that this is the first of many of this type of effort." The transportation funding bill enacted last year allows states to combine their funding for this kind of joint enforcement effort.

The national "Click It or Ticket" seat belt enforcement program includes more states, but that program is run under the auspices of Congress and is not focused on a single highway, Adkins said.

Hoye said the idea for the challenge came about after he studied crash data on I-80 in his state. "In Iowa, I-80 is only 300 miles, but so many of our crashes and so many of our fatalities occur there. Then we looked at other states and we saw the same trends," he said. "We decided we would try to reach all the states along I-80 to work with us to do a multi-state, multi-agency traffic enforcement operation. They all said, I-80 is the same for us."

Police will be focusing on speeding, impaired driving and seat-belt use, Hoye said.

Adkins welcomed the emphasis on speeding. "Of everything that's been done to alleviate speeding, the only thing that works is enforcement, because drivers don't see speed as a safety issue," he said. "So enforcement is absolutely critical, especially this time of year" when traffic fatalities tend to peak.