Starting today, you will see more police out cracking down on speeding, impaired driving or anyone driving aggressively.

The enforcement blitz will include more than 200 state and local law enforcement agencies, including the Seymour, Brownstown, and Crothersville police departments and the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department along with Indiana State Police. It is specifically meant to focus on the weeks around St. Patrick’s Day and the NCAA Basketball Tournament and will last through Monday, March 21st.

Officers will be conducting high-visibility, overtime patrols, with the extra enforcement funded through National Highway Traffic Safety Administration grants administered by the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute.

According to the institute, preliminary data shows that 941 people died in fatal crashes last year in Indiana. That’s up 5% from 2020, and is a 16% increase from pre-pandemic levels in 2019. It represents the highest number of traffic fatalities in Indiana since 2005.

The leading causes of the rise in fatalities are alcohol and drug impairment, distracted driving, speeding and not wearing seat belts.

If you are driving and encounter a possible impaired or unsafe driver on the road, you should call 911.