The Illinois State Police did special enforcement patrols in the Tri-County Region Thursday. The detail, called Operation Safe Travel included troopers from three other districts in addition to Peoria District 8 and they issued 104 citations, most for speeding. Much of the operation took place on I-74 between the construction at Morton and the City of Peoria.
District 8 Trooper Jeremy Carnes says they were enforcing Speed Limit and Move Over Laws as well as cell phone violations. “The statistic is if you receive a text message, you go to read that text message, your eyes are taken off the road for an average of 4.6 seconds. In that amount of time an extra 100 yards is added to your stopping distance. You know 100 yards, especially in a construction zone, that is huge deal.”
Carnes says speed is still an issue in the Morton construction zone. Troopers are reportedly writing 8-10 citations there daily, many at 20 and 30 miles an hour over the posted work-zone speed.
Operation Safe Travel was a 5-hour special enforcement. During that time two motorcycles were clocked at 104 and 120 on I-74. They were in the 55-mile an hour zone through Peoria.