Earlier this year, the New York State Police and the New York
State Department of Transportation organized a statewide coordinated effort
toward mitigating the types of aggressive driving behaviors that are believed
to be the cause of hundreds of traffic related deaths, thousands of injuries
and millions of dollars of property damage annually.
To that end, the DOT analyzed traffic accident data, and
identified areas across the state that exhibited particularly high incidents
related to combination behaviors such as speeding, following too close, unsafe
lane changing and running red lights, which ended up causing motor vehicle
crashes. These areas were defined as "Targeted Corridors", and not
surprisingly, a section of Route 9 from the Mid Hudson Bridge to Old Hopewell
Road in Wappinger met the selection criteria.
The state agencies involved in this program have adopted
a "3-E" approach to this issue: to correct aggressive driving
behavior through Engineering, Education and Enforcement. Engineering relates to
such issues as intersection design, traffic signal timing, pavement markings,
commercial access and pedestrian crossings, and are continuously studied and
improved as traffic patterns emerge.
The second "E" is for education. For this
program, extensive coordination with local media outlets, the use of eight electronic
variable message signs and a highway advisory radio message were all designed
to both define the problem, and to get the word out that the third
"E", Enforcement, was taking place. State Authorities met with
representatives from the Town and City of Poughkeepsie Police, the Dutchess
County Sheriff's Office, and the Village of Wappinger Falls, to devise a
coordinated intense enforcement campaign over a two-week period beginning in
early May.
Some, including myself, were skeptical that if this event
was highly publicized in the media, and the enforcement route was identified by
large, brightly lit message signs directing motorists to tune into radio
messages warning of the enforcement intent, that there would be few violations
observed. Similar efforts in the Capital District and on Long Island yielded in
excess of 400 and 800 summons respectively, so there was significant evidence
that the extra law enforcement presence would be put to good use.
As it turned out, the skeptic's fears were unsubstantiated,
and the enforcement effort was frighteningly successful.
Quarter mile cops
At the beginning of the detail, it seemed as if a police
car could consistently be seen with someone pulled over every quarter mile or
so along the target area. As the number of tickets issued approached 2,000
toward the end of the two-week period, many of us (including a couple of local
morning radio program hosts) were asking, "What were these people
thinking?"
Could they really be oblivious to what was going on,
given all of the warnings in effect? Are people's driving behaviors so
inculcated into their personas, that they either don't realize when they are
behaving badly, or can't stop themselves?
I took the opportunity on the both the first and second
Fridays of this effort to ride along in an unmarked, nondescript police car
with a Trooper assigned as a "spotter" for the marked patrols, to
find out for myself.
On the evening of May 10, day four of the operation, what
I found most remarkable was the number of times I saw someone speed past a
police car who had someone pulled over, only to be stopped by the next patrol
just down the road. I spoke to abut a dozen violators that night, and each one
was relatively local, all but one were aware of the program and had read the signs,
and unbelievably, each one acknowledged (some quite colorfully) their driving
behavior as excessive and dangerous.
One young lady, who had said she was late, admitted that
she was late quite often once her driver's license was found to be suspended due
to five previous unanswered tickets. As the tow truck removed her vehicle, her
proposed solution of "Taking the back roads from now on" was a clear
indicator that she still didn't get it.
Something like a phenomenon
At this point I was introduced to a new phenomenon of
American youth culture, the modified, compact car. Hundreds of these
"tricked-out imports" complete with tinted glass, loud mufflers,
extra gauges, air foils, peculiar lighting and clear taillight lenses descended
onto the target area, gathering in mall parking areas and coffee shops, with
the occasional high speed burst from one traffic light to the next.
As this scene from "American Graffiti meets the
Nintendo generation" continued, five Town of Poughkeepsie police cars
stopped traffic right in front of me, capturing about eight of these vehicles
as they were buzzing in and out of traffic toward the Galleria at a high rate
of speed.
In contrast, on the second Friday, driving south on Route
9 during the evening rush hour on the 11th day of the enforcement effort was
like a scene from the movie "Pleasantville." Traffic moved in even
flowing blocks, from traffic signal to traffic signal, just below the speed
limit.
Want to change lanes? Just put on your indicator, and a
gap would magically appear as the traffic slowed and let you in.
People smiled as you completed your lane shift, and
occasionally even waved. Drivers were obviously concentrating on their driving,
instead of their cell phones, schedules or PDA's.
Driving that evening was sedate, uneventful, and felt
remarkably safe. The occasional errant motorist was quickly dealt with, but for
the most part good behavior, particularly from the young people in their
modified imports observed later in the evening, was the order of the day.
Stress free commute
While there may be some expected regression after the
focus moves away from Route 9, we can be optimistic that those who were made
aware of their poor driving habits may have learned from this effort, and that
others found the stress free commute enjoyable and worth retaining.
If the fear of tickets and fines motivates some people
more than the fear of being involved, injured or killed in an automobile
accident, they should remember that area law enforcement officers are now tuned
into this type of behavior more than ever before. The dangerous level of
aggressive driving, which can often lead to more serious incidents of road
rage, cannot continue if we are to maintain our quality of life, and the safety
of our families here in the Hudson Valley.
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