Police see uptick in speeding, fatal crashes amid pandemic

Stay-at-home orders are keeping more people off the roads, but police across the country are reporting a rise in reckless driving.

In Connecticut, traffic has been cut in half compared to last year, but fatal motor vehicle accidents are up by about 40%.

"We're finding that with the open roads, certain individuals are taking this as an opportunity to push their vehicles to the limit," Connecticut State Police Trooper Josue Dorelus told ABC News' Transportation Correspondent Gio Benitez.

Dorelus said they have seen a 90% increase in cars going over 15 miles above the speed limit during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) urged drivers nationwide last month to slow down as state highway safety officials started reporting a "severe spike" in speeding.

The California Highway Patrol issued nearly 2,500 citations statewide for driving over 100 miles per hour from mid-march to mid-April -- an 87% jump from the same time last year.

California is now using its more than 700 electronic highway signs to display messages like, "If you must travel do not speed."

"When you're going in excess of 100 miles an hour, these crashes are inevitably going to be fatal or near fatal," Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety President Cathy Chase told ABC News.

In Massachusetts, the fatality rate for car crashes is rising. In Minnesota, motor vehicle crashes and fatalities have more than doubled compared to the ... (Read more)

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