MSP Operation Care cracks down on dangerous and distracted driving on Fourth of July weekend

MSP to crack down on dangerous drivers this weekend

Michigan State Police are going to be out on the freeways and highways this weekend to keep an eye out for distracted and dangerous drivers as part of Operation Care.

DETROIT (FOX 2) - During holiday weekends, police often see an increase in dangerous driving. In just 24 hours, a car drove into a house in Livonia, another driver was recused after crashing into a polite in Southfield, and a suspected drunk driver was arrested for crashing into a Berkley café.

As the Fourth of July holiday weekend arrives, crashes are happening more often. In Berkley, a driver crashed into the Lunch Cafe around 2:30 Friday morning, on Thursday, police responded to two traffic fatalities in Canton, and last Friday, three people had minor injuries after a crash on I-75 near Warren Ave in Detroit.

Michigan State Police said a driver was speeding NB on I-75 when they lost control of their vehicle and hit the side of a tanker truck. Now, MSP have launched Operation Care, an initiative to prevent crashes and keep you alive.

"These last five years we’ve seen fatalities in Michigan over 1,000 people (die) every year. The stats for 2022 show we’re over 1,000 people," MSP Lt. Mike Shaw said.

So, what are MSP troopers searching for? The drivers who could put you at risk. It also means that you will see more troopers on the roads

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"We look for those types of drivers that are most likely to cause a traffic crash, especially during holiday travel time. Those are the impaired drivers, the distracted drivers," Shaw said. "Operation care kind of takes our troopers away from administrative duties during that period of time, which starts today (June 30) and ends on midnight on the Fourth so they’ll be out on the road more."

In fact, the start of this year’s Fourth of July Holiday weekend comes as the new distracted driving law takes effect Friday, June 30. That law makes it illegal to manually use a cell phone while operating a vehicle on Michigan roads.

No touching your phone while driving: New law starts June 30

"So this law is very good and hopefully it will help us start to turn our phase so that we can get under 1,000 fatalities and eventually, as the governor said, by 2050 we’re hoping to get to zero fatalities on her roads," Shaw said.