I’ve been a proud Michigan resident for almost 18 years now, and in the last few years I have noticed a real change in the way people drive in our state. I’ve always enjoyed the unspoken freedom provided by The State Police to go 10mph over the speed limit on our Interstates and state highways where it’s posted at 70mph. I drive a lot, for 5 years I drove from Lansing to Grand Rapids for work every day, 55 miles each way. And today I do deliveries and ride sharing all over the state.

The one thing I see constantly is impatience, and it’s getting dangerous. Now if I’m driving 70mph, the person behind me is almost in my back seat wanting to get by, as many are now driving not just 80, but 90mph and above on our highways every day. And it’s not just highways anymore, neighborhoods and downtown streets, no matter where I drive people are tailgating because I’m going the speed limit. They want to go faster. Our roads have become more dangerous in the time I’ve lived here.

I have also noticed much less of a presence of law enforcement on our highways. I could easily drive Lansing to Grand Rapids on I-96 and not see any State Police presence other than at the truck scales near Ionia on some days. If our desired speeds continue to rise and enforcement doesn’t, more people will die on our roads. As the old saying goes, Speed Kills!

Respectfully Yours,

Brent Alberts

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