(Photo by STATE POLICE) Bright green signs give motorists fair warning when members of the state police Mobile Enforcement Unit are conducting one of their traffic details targeting drivers who are speeding or engaging in other hazardous driving behavior. This checkpoint was set up Monday morning on I-93 in Salem.

CONCORD — On the heels of the rollout by state and local police Monday morning of Operation Commuter Shield, a new traffic-safety initiative targeting speeders and aggressive drivers, similar initiatives in Salem and Londonderry conducted later in the day also turned out to be quite productive, according to law enforcement officials.

In Nashua, officers working the detail, which was set up on the Everett Turnpike, recorded 147 motor vehicle stops within five hours, more than half of which involved drivers clocked at, or over, 75 mph, well above the turnpike’s posted speed limit of 55 mph.

Meanwhile, over on I-93 in Salem, state police troopers from the department’s Special Enforcement Unit, along with members of its Mobile Enforcement Unit, “concentrated on reducing speed and other hazardous driving behavior,” according to state police.

SEU officers utilized the department’s aircraft to “monitor traffic and identify motor vehicle violations,” which police said totaled 71 within three hours. Most were for speeding — one driver was clocked at 100 mph, 24 were going at, or over, 90 mph, police said.

At roughly the same time frame on Monday, state police Troop G, the unit that oversees the enforcement of regulations for motor carriers and commercial motor vehicles, were conducting a “move-over law saturation patrol” on I-93 in Londonderry.

(Photo by STATE POLICE) Two state police cruisers are parked behind the vehicles they pulled over on I-93 in Salem as part of a traffic enforcement initiative Monday morning that targeted drivers for speeding and other motor vehicle violations.

The purpose of the patrol, police said, is twofold: to increase the visibility of law enforcement officers, while also identifying operators who failed to move over for emergency vehicles, which is required by law.

During the four hours, officers stopped 39 vehicles, 22 of which were commercial vehicles. Two of those were found to have equipment violations that officers took out of service after determining they were unsafe for road travel.

Of the 17 passenger vehicles that police stopped, 12 were cited for failing to move over, police said.

They also said that troopers have stepped up their enforcement of the move-over law with the approach of National Move Over Day, which is being observed this Saturday, Oct. 15.

The law’s official name — The Motorist Duties When Approaching Highway Emergencies Law — was created in an effort to protect first-responders and other workers, such as tow truck operators or Department of Transportation crews, while they perform their duties in a breakdown lane or off the side of the road.

(Photo by STATE POLICE) A car carrier was among the vehicles that members of state police Troop G pulled over during Monday's saturation patrol on I-93 in Londonderry.

The law requires drivers, upon seeing vehicles on the side of the road with flashing red, blue or amber lights, to move out of the lane adjacent to the emergency, or if that isn’t possible, to give as wide a berth as possible and reduce speed.

As for Nashua’s Operation Commuter Shield initiative, teams of officers will be monitoring traffic on the turnpike, as well as on main thoroughfares like Concord, Amherst and East and West Hollis streets, through the end of this month, police said.

They said the initiative was created in response to multiple complaints local police have received from local residents regarding “excessive speeding, aggressive driving, and other motor vehicle infractions,” police said.

Police didn’t say how frequently the team of officers will conduct the operation, but they did say it will take place “during all hours of the day and night.”

Dean Shalhoup may be reached at 594-1256 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.