Since the pandemic began, drivers have been putting the pedal to the metal, but now the Michigan State Police will be cracking down those speeding.

When the pandemic kicked in, it was safer to not pull people over since the unknown of what the coronavirus might do to an officer or a citizen. Plus the unknown of how people may react during a pandemic might have been a bigger issue for police.

I drive 131 to and from work from Newaygo County each day. During the pandemic I saw police sitting in the median but they were not pulling anyone over. Once drivers picked up on that and the fact that almost no one was on the road, drivers have been speeding excessively.

Once you get past Cedar Springs the speed limit is 75 mph and most are going 80. Often this past year people have been blowing by me like I'm sitting still when I'm going 75/80 mph. I'm still seeing that now that things have pretty much resumed to normal traffic on the road.

What is wild is during the pandemic, there were less accidents due to less people being on the road, but there were more traffic deaths than ever. Its not just a Michigan thing, its all across the country.

According to WOOD, state police are calling this the Great Lakes, High Stakes campaign. Over 30 law enforcement agencies are participating in this move to slow drivers down.

As I'm writing this, I just remembered over Memorial weekend I traveled out of state and noticed I had to really pay attention because I myself had been driving a bit faster than usual and the speed limits are lower in Indiana. I was on a side road working my way back to I-69 to come back to Michigan and got stopped for speeding. I got lucky the trooper gave me a warning.

So you better watch it because the Michigan State Police are going to be out in full force to bring down the number of deadly crashes and hopefully their presence will start slowing us down.

Don't forget, there are other agencies doing this so it won't just be the state police, sheriffs, local town or city police will all be breaking out those radar guns.

As much as insurance costs in this state, the last thing you or I need is a ticket to give the price gauging insurance companies in this state a reason to raise our rates. We know how they love that.

There is a focus that will begin Saturday, June 19 and run through Sunday, June 27. So you may want to lighten up on the gas pedal.

Let's not forget, police didn't write a lot of tickets in 2020 which means revenue is down also, don't think for a second that the state doesn't want to recoup that and more. I'm gonna lighten up on the gas pedal and keep it that way even after June 27 and you should consider the same.

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