HIGHWAY PATROL OUT IN FORCE IN CAPE

More than 350 stops were made in Cape Girardeau and northern Scott counties by troopers from the Missouri Highway Patrol Wednesday, as a part of concerted effort to crack down on speeding and other traffic violations in the area.

During the stops, made on four state highways as well as Interstate 55, troopers handed out 102 speeding tickets and 43 tickets for failure to wear a seatbelt.

The effort was one of many special enforcement operations funded by an annual federal grant that allows each of the state's nine patrol troops to target area problems.

Troop E in Southeast Missouri chose this year to target traffic violations in the Cape Girardeau area, including sections of the interstate in Scott County north of Benton, because the traffic in the area is the heaviest in the troop, said Lt. James McNeil.

"We were saturating particular areas where there was the likelihood of violations," McNeil said.

In addition to the interstate, troopers concentrated on sections of state highways 25, 34, 74 and 177. Highways 34 and 74 are areas with a high number of accidents, McNeil said.

"We want the public to know that they're going to see us on the back roads and not just the interstate," he said.

The highway patrol brought in an additional ten officers for Wednesday's saturation operation while allowing the officers stationed in the area to conduct their usual patrol.

Officers in particular were looking for evidence of speeding and violations of the seatbelt law. Several of those stopped by the patrol during Wednesday's operation were traveling at speeds in excess of 80 and 90 miles an hour, McNeil reported.

He said that the three major causes of accidents are speeding, inattentiveness and driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Not wearing a seat belt is a major cause of being hurt or killed when in an accident, he said.

"We just want people to obey the laws. If they're obeying the law, we'll be there to help them. If they're violating the law, we will apprehend them," McNeil said.

He did not indicate when the patrol would have a similar operation, saying only, "We'll do it again one of these days."