BUFFALO, N.Y. — With more people traveling over the Memorial Day weekend, New York State Police will be cracking down on impaired drivers and reckless driving.
The special enforcement period began Friday and runs through Tuesday. Drivers should expect to see more checkpoints, as well as more state troopers on patrol.
Over Memorial Day weekend a year ago, New York State Police say 203 people were arrested for driving while impacted. There were also 8.907 tickets issued and 457 crashes investigated, with two fatalities.
According to AAA, more than 37 million people will travel more than 50 miles from home this year for Memorial Day. That's up 60 percent from last year when only 23 million people traveled for the holiday. That was an all-time low since 2000 with AAA started tracking these stats.
While the increase will be a welcomed sight for the travel industry, it's still 13 percent or about 6 million people less than 2019, the last pre-pandemic Memorial Day weekend.
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