Aggressive driving enforcement underway in the state
Throughout most of this month, state and local police will be paying special attention to areas that are prone to aggressive driving.
During a Wednesday press conference, representatives from the state Department of Transportation said state police will partner with Rostraver Township police to look for drivers who are speeding, unsafely changing lanes or tailgating. Another 300 other municipal police departments across Pennsylvania will be doing the same.
PennDOT District 12 Public Safety Officer Melissa Maczko said the efforts are a way to raise the public’s awareness of aggressive driving, and let motorists know that law enforcement officers are on the lookout for such violations.
“There are troopers out and police out in this area, and people tend to slow down when they know that,” Maczko said.
Police will be targeting areas that see a high number of crashes due to aggressive driving.
“Crash statistics show that aggressive driving leads to many of our fatal and serious injury crashes,” state police Trooper Forrest Allison said Wednesday.
During the enforcement period, police will also be on the lookout for behaviors like distracted driving that could lead to safety issues for pedestrians, motorcyclists and workers in construction zones. According to PennDOT, in 2020 there were 1,292 work-zone crashes across the state, resulting in 816 injuries and 15 fatalities — including one road worker.
Rostraver Township Sgt. Scott Sokol said the increased enforcement runs through Aug. 21, and will concentrate on roadways in the township that have high statistics for accidents.
“Route 51 is the primary roadway for us, but we’ll have other roadways that we will enforce as well,” Sokol said.
Maczko said in addition to reducing the number of crashes in the immediate sense, aggressive driving enforcement has also helped lead to longer-term improvements in problem areas across the state.