Marathon, Florida - This Grinch has taken advantage of the Christmas season, and had a curious surprise in store for speeders in Florida.

Police in the Sunshine State are currently carrying out more speed checks, including in a school zone in the small town of Marathon.

However, it's not a uniformed officer standing at the side of the road, but rather a green, grim-looking creature who already seems to have had enough of all the Christmas cheer.

Played by Chief Inspector Lou Caputo, the popular Dr. Seuss character the Grinch is currently signalling speeders in traffic and giving them a choice: a speeding ticket or an onion!

Yes, you read that right.

As soon as a traffic offender is clocked speeding five miles per hour or less over the speed limit, they're confronted by the Grinch.

"It surprises them," Caputo explained with a grin to People. "But if I give them a choice ... they'll take the onion."

The 37-year-old came up with the idea of patrolling the streets as a sleazy Christmas character more than 20 years ago.

It has since developed into a small tradition that is primarily used to educate motorists about speeding in school zones.

"We want everyone to arrive alive and get home safely to their families," a colleague of Caputo's, Andrew Lierd, explained in a video posted on the police department's Facebook account.

And the Grinch agreed, too, saying police officers simply wish "people would slow down in school zones."

"It's about education, about awareness that our school zones are still in operation, even though it's the vacation season," Caputo concluded.