An Unlikely COVID-19 Outcome: Speeding

By M Dalton 04/28/20 

Across the world, stay-in-place orders during the COVID-19 pandemic have mandated people to stay at home. More people at home means fewer people on the road, and in theory creates safer roads. Unfortunately, with significantly fewer cars on the road, police officials have observed an increase in speeding and reckless driving.

Reckless Driving on the Rise During Pandemic

Without the usual traffic constraints, drivers are taking advantage and pushing their speeds to the limits across the United States and Europe. Speed camera tickets have increased over the past month. Cities including Washington D.C. and New York City reported that although there is significantly less traffic, they have issued 20-60% more speeding tickets this March compared with last year.

Not only are there more speeding tickets being issued, the violations that are issued for more than 20 MPH over the speed limit have also increased. Some cities have even reported clocking cars over 100 mph has become a common occurrence. Law enforcement departments across the country are working to keep the roads safe for drivers and pedestrians.

LTI Laser Speed Gun and Pandemic Speeders

LTI’s 20/20 TruVISION^™ offers a state-of-the-art photo and video traffic enforcement. The 20/20 TruVISION laser has a built-in camera to record dangerous driving. Speeding, distracted driving, and tailgating data are all captured in the TruVISION. Easily capture the entire violation as well as a high-resolution of the license plate all from a safe distance away.

In areas where eticketing is used, the TruVISION’s capture of license plate numbers allows tickets to be mailed to motor vehicle owners. This provides the enforcement officers with an additional layer of protection from being exposed or exposing others to the virus. Our products are ideal for long distance for traffic enforcement. The TruSpeed^® LR laser speed gun is an affordable option for any department. With an extended range of 4,000 feet the TruSpeed LR can pinpoint a single-vehicle target in multi-lane traffic.