PennDOT, State and Municipal Police to Target Aggressive Driving

STATE COLLEGE – Standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the State College Borough Police Department, PennDOT announced Thursday that an aggressive-driving enforcement wave, made possible with part of a $2.1 million statewide investment, will run from Valentine’s Day through March 27. Today’s event took place at Woodring’s Floral Gardens in State College.

This investment of federal dollars will aid Pennsylvania State and municipal police not only in Central Pennsylvania, but also statewide in their efforts to crack down on aggressive driving throughout the year. The enforcement is part of a nationwide crackdown on aggressive driving. 

Police across Central Pennsylvania will look for aggressive driving behaviors such as speeding, tailgating and running red lights or stop signs. In Pennsylvania, more than 300 municipal police departments and the Pennsylvania State Police will participate in this wave, the first of three this year. 

Statewide, participating police departments wrote 154,642 aggressive-driving related citations in 2010, including 73,108 for speeding.  Disobedience of traffic control devices or signs was the second most-common offense, resulting in 36,136 citations. The extra traffic enforcement also resulted in 171 felony arrests, 1,683 driving-under-the-influence arrests and 553 drug-related arrests. 

The aggressive-driving enforcement is a part of the Pennsylvania Aggressive Driving Enforcement and Education Project.  Visit www.DriveSafePA.org for more information on PennDOT’s efforts with aggressive driving or other safety topics.

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