Key West The Newspaper

Memorial Day weekend is fast approaching and is one of the busiest weekends of the year for traffic in the Florida Keys. For those of you who plan to be in the Keys over the weekend, plan extra time if you plan to drive anywhere and please be patient and practice safe driving habits over the busy holiday weekend.

The Sheriff’s Office Traffic Enforcement Unit wants to remind everyone they will be out in force over the holiday weekend to make sure people are driving safely. They will also be kicking off the most recent state-wide “Click it or Ticket” campaign Monday, May 22^nd and will be enforcing seatbelt laws vigorously through the end of the campaign June 4^th, including over the Memorial Day Weekend.

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 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.