The four-day statewide campaign included 200 DWI arrests. Troop D reported 1,134 tickets across its Central New York region.
New York State Police issued 10,803 traffic tickets and arrested 200 people for driving while intoxicated during the Columbus Day weekend tickets enforcement campaign, the agency announced October 16.
The operation ran from Friday, October 9, through Monday, October 12, 2026. Troopers also investigated 768 crashes, including four fatal crashes.
What the Central New York numbers show
The agency’s regional breakdown lists 1,134 tickets and 16 DWI arrests for Troop D, identified in the release as Central New York. Those are troop-wide figures, not a separate count for Utica or Oneida County.
Troop D’s totals included 444 speeding tickets, 20 distracted-driving tickets, 42 child-restraint and seat-belt violations, and 19 Move Over Law tickets. The report also lists 55 Penal Law arrests for the troop.
Speeding accounts for 4,605 tickets statewide
The campaign used sobriety checkpoints and extra DWI patrols. Troopers also focused on speeding, aggressive driving and drivers using handheld electronic devices. The Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee provided part of the funding.
State Police highlighted the following ticket categories. These are selected violations, so they do not add up to the full statewide ticket total.
| Violation category | Tickets |
|---|---|
| Speeding | 4,605 |
| Distracted driving | 274 |
| Seat-belt and child-restraint violations | 430 |
| Move Over Law | 225 |
Complete enforcement results by troop
The table below preserves every troop and category in the State Police release. The total-tickets column includes other traffic violations beyond the categories shown. DWI arrests and Penal Law arrests are separate measures and should not be added to the ticket total.
| Troop | Region | DWI Arrests (# of persons) | Speed | Distracted Driving | Child Restraint & Seat Belt | Move Over | Total Tickets (includes other violations) | Total Penal Law Arrests |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | Western NY | 6 | 333 | 23 | 32 | 9 | 935 | 35 |
| B | North Country | 11 | 189 | 8 | 16 | 30 | 606 | 36 |
| C | Southern Tier | 10 | 303 | 6 | 21 | 29 | 721 | 25 |
| D | Central NY | 16 | 444 | 20 | 42 | 19 | 1,134 | 55 |
| E | Finger Lakes | 15 | 541 | 6 | 80 | 7 | 1,259 | 51 |
| F | Western Hudson Valley | 39 | 567 | 48 | 53 | 14 | 1,252 | 70 |
| G | Capital Region | 23 | 256 | 14 | 29 | 20 | 785 | 49 |
| K | Eastern HV | 19 | 526 | 25 | 56 | 33 | 1,123 | 27 |
| L | Long Island | 22 | 403 | 38 | 24 | 15 | 867 | 25 |
| NYC | New York City | 2 | 45 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 231 | 15 |
| T | NYS Thruway | 37 | 998 | 79 | 75 | 49 | 1,890 | 40 |
Why the 2025 comparison needs context
State Police reported 13,825 tickets and 191 DWI arrests during the 2025 Columbus Day campaign. That operation lasted five days, from October 9 through October 13, 2025. This year’s campaign lasted four days.
The raw totals therefore compare enforcement periods of different lengths. They do not, by themselves, establish whether drivers were safer or whether violations became more or less common.
The release provides State Police results. It does not give a combined total for every police department in New York or a community-by-community breakdown of the crashes. Arrests are allegations, and defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
Source: New York State Police enforcement results, released October 16, 2026. Featured graphic: New York State Police.
