Wave two of Pennsylvania’s crackdown on aggressive driving is underway. Officers will pull over and cite anyone who is operating their vehicle in an aggressive manner.
The Pennsylvania Aggressive Driving and Education Enforcement Project, or PAADEEP, was instated earlier this year in an effort to reduce the number of accidents, injuries, and deaths associated with aggressive driving. Aggressive driving and reckless driving have been cause for citation before PAADEEP, yet the Pennsylvania police are enforcing stricter regulations.
Wave one of the increased attention given to aggressive drivers took place between October 23, 2017, and November 19, 2017. Municipal law enforcement agencies recorded almost 11,000 citations and arrests as well as over 6,000 speeding tickets during wave one.
Wave two of the crackdown began March 19 and will run until April 29 of this year. Pennsylvania State Police will be working in conjunction with 238 municipal police agencies to continue their focus on aggressive roadway behaviors.
Driving behaviors such as speeding, distracted driving, keeping right, passing on the left, and work zone safety will all be scrutinized during the six week period.
Authorities in Pennsylvania believe that the PAADEEP will scale down the amount of aggressive driving-related accidents, either by education and/or reprehension.
The majority (66%) of fatal crashes are a result of aggressive driving, according to statistics from the NHTSA and Auto Vantage auto club. Accidents also create large amounts of property damage, and in 2010 the total costs of property damage resulting from car accidents was $76.1 billion. The state of Pennsylvania, including PennDOT, are attempting to significantly reduce those fatalities and costs with this enforcement project.
According to Pennsylvania Traffic Safety Enforcement Resource Center, “participating agencies will use Traffic Enforcement Zones, saturation patrols, speed enforcement details, corridor enforcement, work zone enforcement and multi-jurisdictional patrol strategies to identify and cite aggressive drivers.”
While the aggressive driving enforcement project may be the state of Pennsylvania’s most current traffic-related implementation, it isn’t their only one. PennDOT has created multiple “behavioral programs include impaired and distracted-driving campaigns, aggressive-driving enforcement, seat-belt and child-restraint programs, and many other measures to encourage safer driving habits,” according to their website.
The website also stated that they are making improvements to the roadways and infrastructure as well as educating drivers. It is estimated that over 33% of major roads in America are in poor or mediocre condition, although many transportation planning firms are working to improve this. PennDOT, however, claims that they are making endless efforts to improve the quality of the roads in Pennsylvania. Efforts include installing rumble strips, removing obstructions, upgrading traffic signals, adding turning lanes, installing pavement markers, and more.
The data seems to support their claim, however, with the lowest amount of highway deaths on PA roads in 2016 since they began keeping such records back in 1928. With programs such as PAADEEP, they hope to see that number drop even further in the next five years.