Law Enforcement Agencies Launch Campaign to End Aggressive Driving          
          
July 9, 2008 - As the summer months begin to heat up, more than 70 Maryland law enforcement agencies and all barracks of the Maryland State Police are attempting to cool down aggressive driving on area roads by raising public awareness through Smooth Operator, an education and enforcement campaign. In early June, law enforcement agencies from Maryland, in conjunction with agencies from Pennsylvania, Virginia, New Jersey and the District of Columbia, began the first of four week-long waves of increased enforcement designed to curb aggressive driving behaviors. These behaviors, which include such offenses as speeding, tailgating, running red lights and stop signs, improper passing and other dangerous driving maneuvers, are intensified during the summer months when increased travel brings increased congestion and the substantial mid-Atlantic heat begins to fry nerves.          
          
In a press conference today, officials, law enforcement and safety advocates convened to formally kick off the Smooth Operator campaign. Simultaneous to the Smooth Operator initiative Baltimore County has kicked off the crime-crash corridor project on six key routes, including: MD 26 (Liberty Road); US 40 (w) (Baltimore National Pike); MD 140 (Reisterstown Road); MD 45 (York Road); MD 150 (Eastern Avenue) and US Route 1 (n) (Belair Road). SHA installed 48 signs along these routes alerting motorists to the "Smooth Operator Enforcement Zone," and will assist in before and after studies to evaluate the effectiveness of the campaign.          
          
"By reaching out to young drivers through Smooth Operator, we hope to instill safe driving behaviors in a new generation of Maryland citizens," said Neil Pedersen, Administrator of the Maryland State Highway Administration and Governor's Highway Safety Representative. "At one point or another, we've all exhibited aggressive driving behaviors. Now's the time to stop, think and make the right choices on the road."          
          
The second wave of the Smooth Operator summer enforcement will take place from July 6-12. This year's campaign is placing an additional focus on younger drivers, a group that statistically has been identified as major violators of traffic laws related to aggressive driving. Nationally, motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for those between the ages of 15 to 20, and young drivers account for over half of all aggressive driving crashes in Maryland. Motorcyclists are also of extreme importance to this program, as many of these drivers tend to exhibit aggressive behavior; in fact, 26 percent of motorcyclists involved in fatal crashes had previous speeding convictions in 2006.          
          
Since the inception of Smooth Operator in 1997, more than two million citations have been issued to aggressive drivers. Citations during the 2007 summer enforcement effort totaled more than 162,000 in Maryland alone, upwards of 385,000 were issued throughout the mid-Atlantic region - more than six times the 62,000 issued in the campaign's first year. Besides keeping aggressive drivers off the road, the Smooth Operator campaign has also been successful in raising public awareness of aggressive driving behavior. In May 2000, public awareness of the campaign was 38 percent; however, as of September 2007, that figure has increased to 70 percent.          
          
"The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration supports the efforts of law enforcement and highway safety officials in their efforts to keep our nation's roads safe," said James Ports, Deputy Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). "As the Smooth Operator campaign continues to gain momentum an important message is being sent to aggressive drivers - stop speeding before it stops you."          
          
According to NHTSA, crashes caused by aggressive driving comprise one-third of all injury crashes and two-thirds of all highway fatalities. Damages resulting from these crashes cost the nation $44,193 each minute, totaling up to $40.4 billion every year.          
          
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