New York State troopers wrote a whopping 20,952 traffic tickets last week during the statewide “Speed Week” crackdown on lead-footed drivers — with Big Apple suburbs topping the list with over 3,300.
The numbers included 10,478 speeding tickets, 576 for distracted driving and 172 for drunken driving — while responding to 175 traffic accidents that included two fatalities between June 12 and Sunday.
“Troopers targeted speeding and aggressive drivers across the state,” the department announced Thursday.
“Troopers watched for impaired and distracted drivers, vehicle occupants who were not properly buckled up and drivers who violated the Move Over Law — which requires motorists to exercise extreme caution when passing emergency vehicles that are stopped in or on the side of the road,” the agency said in a statement.
They were busiest in the city’s northern suburbs, writing 2,387 speeding tickets, 114 seat belt violations, 50 for distracted driving and charged 28 motorists with driving while intoxicated in the Lower Hudson Valley — with 84 drivers also nabbed for failing to move over for emergency vehicles.
On Long Island, 420 drivers were issued speeding summonses, 142 were cited for distracted driving, 84 for failing to wear a seatbelt and 21 for drunken driving. Eleven were cited for “move over” violations.
No motorists were caught drunk behind the wheel over the week, but 477 were ticketed for speeding, 60 for distracted driving and 47 for ignoring the seat belt law, the department said.
And yet the stats paled in comparison to last year, when “Speed Week” netted 22,333 traffic summonses, including more than 11,500 for speeding.