The summer months often times lead to more people on our roads.  Stearns County Sheriff Steve Soyka joined me on WJON.  He says the four biggest causes of traffic fatalities and traffic accidents are speed, distracted driving, impaired driving and not being seat belted.  Soyka says those are the things they concentrate on year round but generally they see more activity on the roads because of vacations and kids being off of school.

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Soyka says because we don't have icy or difficult wintry driving conditions in the summer people tend to speed a little bit more and take more chances on the roads.  He says if you are on your phone and an officer is next to you you're probably getting pulled over for that.  He says as far as seat belts they usually can see the lap belt coming across the person from a fair distance away.  Soyka says during COVID they saw many people driving excessive speeds in the range of 90 to 100 MPH on the interstate in Stearns County.  He says they use laser radars to track speeding which allows them to focus on a specific car.  Soyka says they can use these radars from quite a ways a way.  He says if you see a trooper or police officer in a median with their window down they are probably doing laser enforcement.

Soyka says if you drive the speed limit, wear your seat belt, keep your phone in hands free mode and don't drive impaired you won't  trigger anything that will get you pulled over.

If you'd like to listen to my full conversation with Stearns County Sheriff Steve Soyka it is available below.

 

 

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