NYS Thruway Authority Television police procedurals have conditioned us to believe that undercover cops are primarily tasked with busting drug deals and stopping illegal weapon sales, but they are also out there to stop you from speeding. The New York State Police announced on Monday that troopers issued 747 tickets along the state's Thruway between April 20 and April 24. The troopers were disguised as highway workers to encourage safe driving in work zones during National Work Zone Awareness Week. New York State made a large push in recent years to improve safety for highway workers. In 2023, state agencies introduced automated camera and radar systems to monitor work zones and cite drivers for infractions. "Operation Hard Hat," the state police's own disguise-based initiative, is a far more intense endeavor. According to Syracuse.com, troopers issued 197 tickets for speeding, 28 further citations for cell phone/electronic device use and 27 tickets for Move Over Law violations. These were the figures from one highway in just two counties over five days. Troopers wrote 2,755 tickets along the entire Thruway during "Operation Hard Hat" in 2024. Police in Georgia wrote a mountain of tickets in just a few hours Jeremy Poland/Getty Images The New York State Police isn't the only law enforcement agency to send officers in disguise out on the highways. The Cobb County Police Department, just northwest of Atlanta, sent its officers out on the roads in hard hats and high visibility vests in 2019. The department claimed it was to crack down on distracted driving. According to CBS News, officers issued 170 tickets at a single intersection in just a few hours. While sending police officers out on the road in disguise is a sneaky tactic, increased enforcement is the easiest way to rack up stats that there's an effort to make roads safer. The increased enforcement doesn't come without reason. According to the Federal Highway Administration, work zone crashes killed 899 people in 2023. That figure was at the end of a three-year period featuring a 7% decrease in fatalities. Speed was a factor in over a third of fatal work zone crashes, based on FHWA data. A more effective long-term solution would be to have more stringent licensing standards. A few states are heading in this direction by requiring anyone under 21 to take a driver's education course to apply for a license, so the future is looking a little safer.
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