Throughout July, Albert Lea Police Department officers and Freeborn County Sheriff’s Office deputies conducted enhanced speed patrols and cited 158 motorists traveling at illegal speeds during a statewide speed enforcement campaign administrated by the Minnesota Department of Public Safety Office of Traffic Safety.

“Every time you get behind the wheel put safety first — travel at the posted speed limit and reduce your risk for a crash,” said Albert Lea Police Lt. J.D. Carlson. “The posted speed is the speed limit.”

Speeding is the most commonly reported factor in fatal crashes. Each year in Minnesota, speed contributes to more than 100 traffic deaths and 300 life-altering, serious injuries. In the three-year period 2007-09 in Minnesota, speed contributed to nine traffic deaths in Freeborn County and 325 fatalities statewide -— resulting in an economic impact of more than $390 million.

In Freeborn County, a typical 10 mph over the limit speeding ticket can cost $120. Among those cited for speed, those most in excess were an individual cited in Freeborn County for 71 mph in a 30 mph zone, and in Albert Lea for 59 mph in a 40 mph zone. The highest speed recorded was 87 mph in a 55 mph zone in Freeborn County. Freeborn County deputies cited 130 of the 158 total. The speed enforcement and education effort is coordinated by the Department of Public Safety Office of Traffic Safety. The campaign is a component of the state’s Toward Zero Death program (TZD). TZD is a multi-agency approach to address traffic issues regionally through enforcement, education, engineering, and emergency trauma care and response.