Heavy traffic expected Memorial Day Weekend

Memorial Day weekend is one of the busiest weekends of the year for traffic in the Florida Keys and this year will be no exception. That is the assessment of the Sheriff’s Office Traffic Enforcement Unit, which will be out in force this holiday weekend to make sure people are driving safely.

All Sheriff’s Office Traffic Enforcement Officers will be assigned to work the entire holiday weekend and will work county-wide to help supplement road patrol, particularly on Highway U.S. One. The influx of visitors is expected to cause traffic slowdowns, particularly southbound in the Upper Keys, on Friday; many of those same visitors will leave on Monday and cause slowdowns in the opposite direction on that day. Anyone planning to be on the road over the weekend should plan extra time accordingly.

“We always see extremely heavy traffic over Memorial Day weekend and this coming holiday weekend will be no exception,” said Sheriff Rick Ramsay. The sheriff urges drivers to be patient and drive safely. “We will be in particular looking out for people passing in no passing zones, passing illegally in turn lanes, traveling at unsafe speeds and drinking and driving,” he said.

On the water, Sheriff’s Office marine deputies will keep an eye out for unsafe boating practices, particularly drunk boating; many people head offshore to have a good time, but boaters should make sure to designate someone sober to bring the vessel and its passengers back to shore safely.

As a side note: this coming Monday, May 23rd, is a nationwide Click it or Ticket campaign that Sheriff’s Office Traffic Enforcement deputies will be participating in. The campaign will take place between 6 – 10 p.m. and deputies will concentrate their attention on people driving with no seatbelts during that time period.