Aggressive, distracted drivers targeted by police

It didn’t take long for police with an eye peeled for aggressive driving behaviors Wednesday in North Huntingdon to find a speeding motorist who was using a phone while behind the wheel.

The traffic stop was one of many motorists can expect to see around the area as law enforcement and PennDOT embark on a wave of aggressive driving enforcement, said Melissa Maczko, District 12 safety press officer.

“Our goal with the aggressive driving, the distracted driving, the texting, is to reduce the number of crashes, bring awareness that we’re going to be (on Route 30) on a daily basis, on a shift basis,” North Huntingdon police Chief Robert Rizzo said. “With that, we’re hoping to reduce the speeds and reduce the crashes.”

State troopers and officers from North Huntingdon and Irwin participated Wednesday in a coordinated enforcement effort. The wave will continue through April 23.

Aggressive driving can include speeding, following too close, not using a turn signal and distracted driving.

In the past five years, there have been 5,687 distracted driving-related crashes in District 12, which includes Westmoreland, Greene, Fayette and Washington counties, Maczko said. About half of those happened in Westmoreland County.

“Some of the key features of our enforcement will be people that are texting and driving, driving at high rates of speed, if they are doing improper lane changes or following too closely,” Trooper Steve Limani said.

Both he and Maczko warned drivers about school buses still being on the roads, motorcycles hitting the streets for the season, construction work zones and litter clean up crews.

North Huntingdon police have already pledged to step up enforcement on Route 30 in a particularly dangerous western section of the township.

“This wave actually works right in conjunction with what we’re going to be doing in the upcoming months. You’re going to see a higher visibility of North Huntingdon officers from the Allegheny County line up through the Norwin Towne Square area of Route 30,” Rizzo said.

The officers will be focused on aggressive and distracted drivers, traffic control enforcement and speeding. The effort will include a 1.5-mile section of Route 30 from Carpenter to Malts lanes that has been the site of numerous crashes, including at least six fatalities in the past five years.

There have been 197 crashes from the Allegheny-Westmoreland border to Malts Lane from 2019 to March, including 38 at the Colonial Manor Road intersection and 17 at the Skellytown Road intersection. So far this year, there have been six crashes in that section of Route 30.

PennDOT plans to make safety improvements to that section of highway are in the preliminary design phase.