If you’ve ever found yourself driving through a construction zone, you know that these zones often restrict speed. Depending on the work going on and the space taken up by workers and construction vehicles, the work zone speed limit could be 10, 15, or even 20 mph below the normal posted limit.
Work zone speed limits exist for a few reasons. It’s not wise to let cars zoom through narrow, often uneven lanes with temporary traffic patterns at full speed. New directions and barriers could arise unexpectedly, endangering the lives of drivers and construction personnel, who often work just feet from moving traffic. Sometimes, construction machinery may need to enter the roadway, and for everyone’s safety, it’s probably best that you don’t fly by them at 75 mph when that happens.
Despite these obvious concerns, people regularly speed through construction zones, ignoring the temporary restriction either because they’re not paying attention or because they don’t care about the added risks. To get people to take construction zones seriously, New York State Troopers went undercover as 15% of The Village People—no, not the Native American or Leatherman—to catch speeders and other violators in the act.
Last week, the Troop T division of the New York State Police—the squad fully dedicated to policing New York’s vast, 570-mile Thruway system—held a “targeted enforcement” event called “Operation Hard Hat.” Done in support of National Work Zone Awareness Week, the event allowed troopers to go undercover as construction workers and lie in wait with speed guns in construction zones to catch people in the act without drivers being able to spot them.
The methodology is simple but pretty genius. Basically, the officers dress up in construction worker gear, complete with hard hats and high-visibility vests, and stand on top of construction trucks with handheld or tripod-mounted speed guns, clocking motorists who are blasting through the zone too quickly. They relay the info to a trooper in a squad car further down the road, who pulls over the offending driver and issues a ticket. If the undercover officer notices other violations, like a driver using their cell phone or not wearing a seatbelt, they can get flagged, too.
The New York State Police conducts several Hard Hat Operations each year, usually throughout National Work Zone Awareness Week. This time around, its most successful events were two six-hour operations inside work zones located in Westchester and Rockland counties. In those two blocks of time alone, police issued a staggering 313 tickets, the majority of which—197 citations—were for speeding. Another 28 tickets were issued for cell phone use, and 27 were issued for New York’s “Move Over” law, which requires drivers to slow down and move over for any emergency, construction, or maintenance vehicle stopped on the shoulder.
Additional Hard Hat Operations were held by Troops C, E, and K throughout highways across the state last week, adding another 434 tickets to the enforcement period, for a total of 747 citations issued. Here’s the full breakdown of the laws people were alleged to have broken, per the Thruway Authority’s press release:
- 452 – Speeding
- 47 – Move Over Law violations
- 45 – Cell phone/electronic device use
- 203 – Other vehicle and traffic law violations
New York has been doing these sorts of undercover jobs for years, but the State only made it an official thing in 2019, when it was officially recognized statewide as Operation Hard Hat by the governor. That year, New York State Police issued a total of 1,048 tickets to motorists and even caught a couple of people allegedly driving drunk. Going by the governor’s office website, the record for yearly tickets accumulated through Operation Hard Hat was set in 2022, when state police issued a total of 3,062 citations.
The lesson here? Listen to those posted speed limit signs in construction zones, and put the phone down. Failing to do either puts yourself and others in danger. And if you happen to be driving through an enforcement zone in New York, it could land you a very pricey ticket (traffic violation fines are usually doubled in work zones) courtesy of Victor Willis cosplaying as David Hodo.
Top graphic images: New York State Police; Casablanca Records
Usually I think these stunts are pointless. The citation numbers sound impressive until you realize they caught a miniscule percentage of the folks who speed through construction sites. Even if those folks learn their lesson (big if), there would be no measurable reduction in accidents.
The difference here is they do this annually in multiple locations and presumably many drivers in NY are aware (and terrible at probability). The only improvement would be to do this randomly throughout the year instead of broadcasting it only happens during Safety Week.
1) Great title, Brian!
2) Was there any actual construction occurring? If not, you could argue that this entrapment.
3) I appreciate that they are promoting the operation, because the main focus of this should be increasing safety, not revenue generation.
While I generally despise traffic enforcement and think its mostly a money grab I do endorse slowing for construction workers safety.
This type enforcement was a thing years ago in Maryland. C & D andvR & T had articles on state speed traps using a Ranchero(,!) with a hay bale in the bed camouflaging the radar.
So they have the equipment to repair the roads and instead use it to financially punish their taxpayers for the benefit of out-of-state insurance companies.
De-fund whatever this is.
What about the construction workers? I actually agree with this, because poor construction workers are putting up with bull from drivers that can’t slow down and pay attention.
Having worked on public works projects speeding vehicles has never been an issue (never personally seen someone crash through a bunch of cones or anything). But traffic direction where it is temporarily one lane is a nightmare. Also semis take out cones constantly on tight turns.
I’m with you, I fully support this type of thing in construction zones. One of my closest friends works for the county road commission and last year while patching the road, his truck was rear ended by a guy texting & driving. Luckily they had enough time to react and jump into the grass before getting plowed over.
Work zone speeds in my area are usually 60mph (down from 70) and I will set my cruise between 62-65, which never ceases to piss off every brodozer weaving in and out of traffic trying to go 80+.
Park a marked cruiser in the construction zone. People will slow down.
This method is intended to not get people to slow down in favor of fines and insurance surcharges.
It always astonishes me how fast folks drive through these zones. I fear I’d be eaten up if I went the speed required.
“Who is this?…Lard Ass?” “No!Hard-Hat,Hard Hat!”Cheech and Chong were so funny.
slow down to the limit and use the cones for chicane practice if no one is around.
I always wanted to take a beater truck with a big steel bumper and just knock down about a mile of cones.
My buddy had a big old Caprice and when we were bored on night before garbage day we would go up and down the streets taking out garbage cans.We still laugh about that.Never be able to get away with that now.
A friend did that. He didn’t realize there was a police detail with the construction crew until he caught up to them.
The trooper made him place every cone back where it had been. This was decades ago, before all the cops were Iraq vets treating citizens like residents of an occupied territory.
Haha I bet he was shittin bricks when the blue lights turned on.
“before all the cops were Iraq vets treating citizens like residents of an occupied territory.” I had an Iraq vet cop friend like that. He was a nice enough guy but after knowing him for a while you could tell the disdain he had for certain demographics.
It drives me nuts when the will shut down one lane for 5 miles to only work on 20′. What a ludicrous system. I drove for at least 10 miles on a single lane reduction in the Dakotas 10’years ago, and the were only working on a culvert at the end of the closure.
Commenters in the construction industry: is there any explanation for this practice?
I feel like I know a guy who got a reckless driving ticket for doing that, maybe Rob Ferretti? I might be wrong though
We did that in our feckless teenage years. Note that a ‘73 Torino is not the best tool for that job (except that it was already such a beater we couldn’t be sure which dents were new)
When I used to drive though Tennessee on 40 a lot I was always struck by the condition of the road and the amount of state troopers just sitting there. It seems a simple solution. Take their badge and gun away give them a vest and shovel and say get to work. It seems new York was so close but yet so far away from what needs to happen. As usual.
I’d rather see uniformed officers and marked cars than have these undercover operations. At least a marked car enhances safety. Most people will check their driving when they see a cop, so if nothing else, they’re more attentive for awhile. And for those who don’t, the officer can give them a ticket. Just my opinion. I tend to follow the rules, but I don’t get upset when others don’t as long as they’re safe about it.
It really depend on the area if marked cops help or hurt. Some higher traffic markets they realized traffic flows a lot better if you get the cops out of there. I’ve seen where one of those parking lot cameras with the blue lights visible from the interstste causes a slow down. If you can keep people moving a a constant speed everything works better. So many people see a blue light or cop car or something and hit the brakes.
But yeah this undercover nonsense needs to be put to bed. As long as people are driving safe I really don’t care and most normal people don’t either. They would be better off giving tailgating tickets over speeding tickets.
I think sometimes people speed through construction zones because they go on for miles and miles and miles, sometimes with no construction workers, or policemen ( or cowboys ) to be found.
This. Especially on a holiday weekend when nobody’s working and nobody’s there to be endangered.
In Utah I saw a “when workers are present” speed limit. Now that just makes sense but it cuts into the police ticketing budget.
I think it’s more complicated than that. You might go miles through an idled construction zone and then come across a repaving crew. And yeah, maybe there’s no one working that day at all. But there’s no way to know that in advance.
They don’t determine the length arbitrarily. I remember years ago miles of (finished) lane was blocked off for months where I lived. At some point the local paper got on the case. Someone involved in the project said allowing motorists to use that lane and then forcing them to merge back once they reached the active construction zone would have created a safety hazard and caused more traffic backup than leaving the completed lane closed off.
That sounds like a b.s. explanation. A merge is a merge- why does it matter where it is!?
In this case they were adding an additional lane on the left. The first few miles were done but blocked off. So it would have gone from 3 lanes to 4 (for a few miles) and back down to 3. I’m no traffic engineer but intuitively it makes sense that it would cause problems.
Here’s a bright idea: When do we get compensated when negligent construction signage/practices waste our time? My city allows builders to close a lane on a major throughfare, and when the building is done, but waiting for a litany of inspections, that lane remains closed for several months.
No speed limit issue here, but major inconvenience.
That was actually one thing I learned after moving to Texas.
I was used to X LANE CLOSED AHEAD signs indicating exactly what they say.
Not anymore, I don’t merge over anymore until I can see the cones actually start crossing the lane.
I think I’d prefer to wait for safety inspections to be completed than beta-testing new construction.
The lane was closed for the building construction, not the road. They needed that lane for construction materials and dumpster. That was all gone.
Ah! Sorry I misunderstood. Yeah in that situation I totally agree
If you got one of these, go to court and ask the trooper nicely to change it to 1201A (parking on pavement), which has no lower points, and slightly lower fine. 1101A (failure to obey a Traffic Device) has a lower fine and 2 points
Okay, dumb question: why on Earth would the trooper do that for you?
Because it’s my “First Offense”, or I’m older. The bonus is, if the cop doesn’t show up, the ticket is dropped. Sometimes it’s cause the cop wants to leave early.
I’ve take every single ticket to court since I was 16, and you can pay “court fees” instead of a Violation, and eliminate the points, or get it “continued for a year without finding” and if you keep your nose clean it disappears. You have nothing to lose going to court, and everything to gain.
Some small towns can be worse if you go to court.
I got a taste of this when I was 17 or so. Went to court for a speeding violation. Before we even got to the judge, prosecutor offered to reduce the charge to a faulty muffler, despite my muffler being fine.
That was my introduction to the idiocy of our court system.
Far more effective is the cruiser with lights on preceding the work and they should add a sign to its back stating something like, “speed violations radioed to car posted ahead” so people who realize that the lead cruiser isn’t going to leave his post might still face consequences for ignoring the construction. Bonus, this only takes place where actual construction is going on and works well with rolling work that moves along the roadway during the shift. There doesn’t even have to be a cruiser ahead much of the time, only enough of the times that people are less likely to assume one isn’t there.
Getting people to slow down doesn’t generate revenue. Priorities, gotta have them.
Oh, I know. I’m not some staggering genius to come up with this solution, we don’t see answers that solve the problem because the “problem” is just an excuse used to exploit people for money, like so much of the crap sold to us about being for safety or convenience is really about population conditioning, monitoring, and control.
Georgia State Patrol may do this. Many construction areas will have a car posted at the beginning of the work with its lights on. It slows the traffic down for sure.
I’m generally in favor of this, but too often a “construction zone” is just miles of cones blocking off one lane 24/7 with no work going on.
First thing I thought of, highway I take had barricades and cones and signs up for two weeks then they all came down with no work done
As long as it was actually an active construction zone – good!
If they setup a construction zone just for this stunt, then screw them.
It’s unclear from the article which direction I should fall on this.
Agreed. One could contend in court that it was not a construction zone and therefore not subject to lower speed limits.
I really hope you’re right. Even with signage and what not, forcing drivers to merge is always more dangerous than leaving lanes open. It would be deeply irresponsible for the police to increase the risk of an accident (by conducting an operation intended to reduce accidents)
Young man, you can’t seem to slow down
I said “Young Man, you need to slow down
I said “Young Man, you must be new in this town
There no need. to be. in a hurry”
Dah Dah Dah Dah!
It’s time to pay some more Fines for Today!
It’s time to pay some more Fines for Today!
In the work zone!
I see, you sailed right by the sign!
In the work zone!
And now you’re payin’ double fines!
In the work zone!
This ain’t no way to save some time!
In the work zone!
Don’t you know you’re riskin’ lives!
“NY State Troopers Dressed As 16.7% Of The Village People Give Out 300 Tickets In Less Than A Day”
Since one of the Village People is already dressed as a cop how is this different from any other Tuesday?
That was my thought. Also, a decent amount of NY cops also belong to the New York Naval Militia (they basically do one parade a year, and get free tolls on Port Authority bridges)