Police from Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and West Virginia are participating in an initiative to crack down on aggressive and reckless driving, according to a news release from the Indiana State Police.
The initiative began Sunday, July 17, and will last through Saturday, July 23.
“What is substantial about this effort is our ability to work with our neighbouring state law enforcement agencies to make our highways safer,” Indiana State Police Capt. Bob Burke said.
In Indiana, aggressive driving is a Class A misdemeanour punishable by up to one year in jail and fines reaching $5,000. A driver can be charged with aggressive driving if any three of the following infractions are committed in a single episode of continuous driving:
Unsafe operation
Passing on the right
Unsafe stopping or slowing
Unnecessary sounding of the horn
Failure to yield
Failure to obey traffic signals
Following too closely
Driving at unsafe speeds
Repeatedly flashing headlights
Reckless driving is a Class B misdemeanour in Indiana and is punishable up to 180 days in jail and fines reaching $1,000. You may be charged with this offence if you are caught:
Driving at an unreasonably high rate or an unreasonably low rate of speed
Passing another car from the rear on a slope or curve where vision is obstructed
Swerving in and out of traffic
Speeding up or refusing to allow someone to lawfully pass
Passing a stopped school bus
Commercial Vehicle Enforcement personnel in Indiana will also be checking trucks for safety violations, fatigued drivers and unsafe food shipments. Scale houses will be used to enforce overweight truck laws.
Specific laws in the other five states may vary, but all of the entities involved in the initiative plan to crack down on aggressive and reckless driving.
