Aggressive driving enforcement initiative begins

The second wave of the statewide aggressive driving enforcement initiative kicked off Monday, marked by a gathering of Centre County law enforcement officials.

Officers from the police departments of State College, Patton, Ferguson and Spring townships and the state police joined President Judge Thomas King Kistler on the steps of the Centre County Courthouse to acknowledge the initiative, which will involve 235 municipal agencies across the state.

“The court is very honored to be involved in the kickoff of the aggressive driving campaign,” Kistler said, “because it has an impact on all the citizens and courts throughout Centre County.”

The first wave of enforcement ran between October and November, he said. The second wave continues through May 2, and aims to reduce the number of aggressive driving-related crashes, injuries and deaths on state roadways.

“For the public, that enforcement may be in the form of visibility — more troopers in the road, more traffic stops, or more promotion in events like this,” Kistler said. “Unfortunately for some people, it has to be through direct ticketing for them.”

Enforcement will focus on speeding, work zone safety violations and keeping right-passing left, according to the state Department of Transportation. Motorists who are driving too fast for conditions or following too closely will also be cited.

Last year’s campaign wrote 53,000 aggressive driving-related citations, PennDOT said, including more than 35,000 for speeding. About 5,000 were cited for failure to obey traffic control signals.

“Hopefully, at the end of six weeks, we’ll be able to see that we’ve made a material and significant improvement in highway safety,” Kistler said.

This story was originally published March 21, 2016 at 4:17 PM with the headline "Aggressive driving enforcement initiative begins."