PA - Op. Smooth Op. - 9/2 to 9/9

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Aggressive driving crackdown results in 20,439 citations, arrests

Catherine Rodriguez
Pocono Record Writer
April 20, 2007
More than 20,000 drivers felt the sting of a statewide crackdown on aggressive driving during the week of March 25-31 that was conducted by 150 municipal police departments and 15 state troopers in the first wave of Pennsylvania's "Smooth Operator" program.

The total number of citations and arrests by local and state police was 20,439. In Monroe County, the number was 226. The highest number of citations — 2,151 — were issued in Montgomery County, north of Philadelphia.

Some 16,223 of those drivers were aggressive drivers whose behavior included speeding, tailgating, running red lights or stop signs, and unsafe lane changes. Roads were targeted based on statistics that showed a high frequency of aggressive driving crashes.

An additional 886 drivers were cited for failure to wear a seat belt, 2,988 citations were issued for other traffic offenses and 342 arrests were made during the operation.

In 2005, aggressive driving played a role in 1,016 of 1,616 fatalities on Pennsylvania roads, officials said.

Funding from PennDOT supports police training, overtime and equipment, including wireless infrared speed detectors. PennDOT is investing $2 million in the program to reduce aggressive driving which is considered the leading factor in highway fatalities.

PennDOT said Smooth Operator enforcement will resume this summer.

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Operation Smooth Operator to be July 1 to 7, Aug. 5 to 11 and Sept. 2 to 15.