Austin police to increase presence, enforcement on high-speed, high-traffic roadways

AUSTIN, Texas - The Austin Police Department will be increasing its presence and enforcement on high-speed and high-traffic roadways through the end of May.

APD says Highway Enforcement Command and patrol shifts began focusing on these roadways due to a significant number of fatal, serious injury and injury crashes in Austin while overall traffic was down during the COVID-19 shutdown.

"City-wide we are increasing our efforts to curtail the amount of crashes we have," Lieutenant Jason Disher with APD’s Highway Enforcement Command Division said.

Officers reported seeing excessive speeds, including two different vehicles Monday morning going over 100 mph on Mopac, says APD. 

"People going 20 over, we even had someone going 148 the other day," Disher said. "and when you have the faster speeds, they are more violent which creates property damage and health concerns - people are getting more damaged from the crashes."

This enforcement operation will run citywide through Sunday, May 31, and officers will concentrate on reducing crashes through directed patrols. APD says the increased patrols are intended to dissuade speeding, red-light violations, and other dangerous driving behaviors that make the roads unsafe for all users.

"We always want drivers to get to their destination safely, that's the bottom line, we don't want you to hurt yourself or anyone else,  drive friendly, drive safely, respect yourself and respect others on the road," Disher said.

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