Manchester NH News – Police see increase in speeding on New Hampshire roads as NH state police confirm that have issued some 1,600 tickets for driving 25 mph or more over the 65 mph limit in the last 12 months (to the end of April 2024), including to one person who was caught going 128 mph.
State police Lt. Christopher Storm said “It’s almost an everyday occurrence now for our folks in the special enforcement unit and our troopers on the road,”
Although State police Lt. Storm suggests that the problems are not isolated to one stretch of highway, but instead are state wide, an analysis of the police records does suggest some hotspots are offering up a lot more speeding tickets that for other towns, cities and police departments throughout the state.
For the 12 months from May 1, 2023, through April 30, 2024 there were 3589 speeding tickets issued to drivers speeding 25mph or more over the 55 mph limit.
Police data also lists another 1935 speeding tickets issued to drivers speeding 25mph or more over the 65 mph limit and a further 138 speeding tickets issued to drivers speeding 25mph or more over the 70 mph limit, giving a grand total of 5662 speeding fines for the period May 1, 2023, through April 30, 2024.
Some police departments such as Bethlehem, Farmington and Jackson police departments reported zero speeding tickets during the last 12 months, and most of the state’s departments reporting single digit speeding tickets, there are some heavy hitters leading the state.
State Police Troop D out of Concord reported issuing 729 speeding tickets during the 12 months ending April 30th whilst State Police Troop B out of Bedford reported issuing 703. State Police Hdqtrs, Concord reported 577, State Police Troop A Epping 530, State Police Troop F Twin Mt reported 229, whereas Rockingham County Sheriff reported 162.
State Police Troop C Keene reported 139 and the police departments of Amherst, Nashua and Bedford reported 109, 104 and 102 speeding tickets respectively completing the list of towns, cities and departments reporting more triple digit speeding tickets.
In addition to local assets, State police have enforcement teams set up across the state to monitor the roads, both from the ground and the air with State police Lt. Storm commenting, “New Hampshire State Police utilizes a Cessna 182. We have lines painted on the roadway, and it’s a time-distance equation that’s done with a timer that converts the time and distance to the speed.”
Increase in Road Accident Fatalities & Serious Injuries
The rise in speeding on New Hampshire roads and the issuing of speeding tickets by State Police is sadly also reflected in the number of fatal traffic accidents and the number of serious injury following a traffic accident, with both annual figures and the 5-year average rising for both.
What is even more worrying is that the last records released in the State Highway Safety Report (2022) – New Hampshire indicate that the rate of increase in fatal traffic accidents and serious injury traffic accidents rose substantially from 2021 to 2022, with fatal traffic accidents rising 23.7% to 146 and similar rise of 23.2% in serious injury traffic accidents from 482 to 594.
With one of the busiest driving seasons of the year approaching, state police said they will have more troopers on the roads throughout the summer.
“We are out there trying to make the roadways safe, and our numbers for stops is actually up compared to years past,” Storm said.
