New York State Troopers Issue Nearly 20,000 Tickets During Speed Week

If you traveled any of the highways or byways of the Empire State over the last week, you likely saw an increase in the number of police patrols on the roads. And if you were speeding or otherwise breaking New York traffic law, you might have been one of the nearly 20,000 people who got hit with tickets from the New York State Police during their Fall Safe Speed Initiative.

From Tuesday, September 22, 2026, through Sunday, September 27, 2026, state police stepped up enforcement on speeding and what officers consider aggressive driving on the New York State Thruway and other areas of the state, and the extra attention paid by Troopers resulted in 19,168 tickets being issued in just six days.

More than 9,000 speeding tickets were issued, plus nearly 500 'move over' tickets, with the rest being all sorts of other moving violations or other things like not wearing a seatbelt.

Troopers used a combination of normal patrol cars and a number of unmarked cars that kept track of traffic and looked for drivers breaking the law.

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While many people welcome the additional traffic enforcement, there is a growing group of New Yorkers who are calling out these targeted traffic programs as a money grab by the state. Earlier this year, the state Department of Motor Vehicles updated its driver points system, both increasing the points you get for violations and the fines attached to them.

As police departments around the state, including the state police, issue more tickets, the state will generate more revenue, not just with the traffic fines themselves, but with the fees and surcharges that are added to those fines.

KEEP READING: New York DMV New Points System Is Now In Effect

What do you think? Do efforts like this make us safer on the road, or is it another tax that New York is putting on residents to balance the budget?