‘Not cutting too many breaks’: MSP looking for drivers going over 55 mph on Southfield Freeway

The speed limit on the Southfield Freeway is 55 mph, and Michigan State Police are ramping up enforcement Thursday and watching for speeding drivers.

“One of the places that we get the most complaints from people that live in this area or travel back and forth to work is the Southfield Freeway,” MSP Lt. Mike Shaw said.

While sitting in a patrol vehicle on the freeway near Ford Road, Shaw explained in a video that it’s a hard area to pull cars over because of the narrow shoulders. That’s why the speed limit is 55 mph, he said.

“Anybody that’s driven the Southfield has seen the rush hour,” Shaw said. “People darting off to the shoulder there because they’re driving too closely to the car in front and can’t stop, or they’re driving so fast and they go over one of the dips in the freeway and next thing the traffic’s stopped in front of them and they’re involved in a rear-end crash or end up trying to jump onto the shoulder and either hitting somebody who’s stopped there trying to change a tire or running into an abandoned vehicle.”

Shaw said troopers will be on Southfield Freeway all day and will “not (be) cutting too many breaks today.”

“If you get stopped, you’re probably going to get a ticket today,” he said.

Drivers often tell troopers they can’t realistically do 55 mph on the freeway, but Shaw said police aren’t going to punish drivers who are following the law, they’re going to give tickets to speeders.