Why Minnesota Is Cracking Down On Speeding This Summer

Here's a heads up if you're traveling this weekend and you feel the need... the need for speed, watch out. Because you're now more likely to get caught in Minnesota this holiday weekend if you're behind the wheel exceeding the speed limit.

Driving faster than the posted speed limit is probably something we've *all* done at some point, right? Whether you're late for work, are trying to get to an event, or can't wait to get home, speeding is pretty common here in the Land of 10,000 Lakes.

Minnesota Police Increase Speed Enforcement for 2026

Speeding, though, is also something that can cause some tragic results, as well. Which is why you're now more likely to get a ticket if police spot you speeding here in Rochester or anywhere across the Bold North on an interstate, state highway, or even street near your house.

It's all because of an extra speed enforcement campaign the Minnesota Department of Public Safety (MNDPS) launched earlier this month. This extra enforcement involves over 300 law enforcement agencies across the state and means that officers, deputies, and troopers are all now on the lookout for those drivers who are putting the pedal to the metal in Minnesota.

Speed-Related Crashes Continue To Kill Minnesota Drivers

The MNDPS notes that there's a good reason why they started this campaign again this year, which is set to run through September 7th, 2026. It's because speed-related fatal crashes have been on the increase in Minnesota. MNDPS says preliminary figures show speed-related crashes claimed 102 lives and seriously injured 388 people in Minnesota in 2025.

And while that's less than in 2024, speed-related fatal crashes have been occurring too frequently in our state over the past 5 years: Check out these sobering numbers:

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2024: 137
2023: 113
2022: 130
2021: 171
2020: 122

Minnesota’s ‘100 Deadliest Days’ Begin Memorial Weekend

To try to combat those numbers, MNDPS says officers across the state have handed out 941,517 speeding citations between 2020 and 2025. And they're not just speeding on highways or interstates, either. In fact, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 87 percent of all speeding-related traffic fatalities occurred on non-interstate roadways in 2022.

This extra enforcement coincides with what MNDPS calls the '100 Deadliest Days' on Minnesota roads: the stretch between Memorial Day and Labor Day. MNDPS says that there were 111 fatalities during those two holidays last year, including 31 speed-related fatal crashes.