July 28, 2008
Idaho Law Enforcement Agencies Crack Down on Aggressive Drivers
Poor choices like speeding, tailgating, illegal passing and running stop signs or lights motivated law enforcement agencies throughout Idaho to target these aggressive driving behaviors July 18-27. Idaho Transportation Department's Office of Highway Operations and Safety is funding law enforcement overtime patrol efforts for the 10-day period. The increased patrols statewide are an effort to stop aggressive driving on Idaho highways and save lives. Examples of aggressive driving include speeding, not signaling, tailgating, cutting in, not giving room for others, stop sign violations, and disregarding signals and other signs. Aggressive driving contributed to 14,364 crashes in Idaho during 2007—54 percent of all crashes in the state. Speeding was the primary aggressive driving behavior, while "following too closely" came in second. More than three quarters of Idaho's fatal aggressive driving crashes occurred in rural locations where higher speed limits are often in place. Most of these rural crashes involved a single vehicle. A crash on a road with a speed limit of 65 mph or greater is more than twice as likely to result in a fatality than a crash on a road with a speed limit of 45 mph or 50 mph, and nearly five times as likely as a crash on a road with a speed limit of 40 mph or slower. The economic impact of aggressive driving was $1.4 billion in 2007—nearly half of the total cost for all Idaho crashes.
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