Colorado State Patrol is cracking down on drivers along I-25 between Monument Hill and Castle Rock.

State Trooper Edward Gawkoski says the saturation patrols started Monday. As of this morning, troopers have pulled over 417 people and given 159 citations. The program calls for stepped up patrols 10 days a month, at different times of the day, with changing numbers of troopers involved. The State Patrol airplane will also be used to catch speeders.

Troopers are not only focusing on speeders, but aggressive drivers, drivers people driving in the left lane who follow too close, and those who don’t use their turn signal. He says, many people still don’t understand the left lane law.

“The minute they pass me, they should be moving back to the right lane,” said Trooper Gawkoski.

The State Patrol says the first few days, they pulled a lot of people over, but now drivers are starting to slow down.

“We had the same amount of officers on the 3rd or 4th day and the contacts started going down. People started driving better,” said Trooper Gawkoski.

The trooper estimates, so far they’ve tripled the normal number of man hours spent patrolling the stretch of I-25. The goal is to cut down on accidents. The trooper says, for those accidents that still occur, slower speeds, will mean less severe injuries or fewer fatalities.