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Police Target Aggressive Drivers

BLOOMSBURG — Police are cracking down on aggressive drivers more than ever, thanks to a PennDOT program that started this week. Sgt. Leonard Rogutski of t...

BLOOMSBURG -- Police are cracking down on aggressive drivers more than ever, thanks to a PennDOT program that started this week.

Sgt. Leonard Rogutski of the Bloomsburg Police Department knows what to look for. He pulled someone over in Bloomsburg.

"Speeding, stop sign and red light violations, passing in no passing zones, following too closely, and those types of traits," Rogutski said.

Police departments from all over the state got grant money from the Aggressive Driving Program, which allows officers to work overtime. Rogutski says when officers are working the program they are not responsible for answering routine calls.

"What this allows is for those officers to come out on overtime additional to their regular scheduled workload and focus specifically on that," Rogutski said.

Aggressive driving affects everyone, especially people who work on the sides of roadways, like PennDOT crews.

"Aggressive driving is a major contributor to crashes and unfortunately we've had a lot of crashes in work zones," Kimberly Smith said.

According to PennDOT, last year there were almost 2,000 crashes and 24 deaths in work zones. PennDOT foreman Jim Yeagle says he sees a lot of aggressive drivers when he is working.

"They go too fast. They don't see the signs and the next thing you know they're right up on your work zone. They swerve to your right or left to miss you," Yeagle said.

PennDOT says since 1970, 85 PennDOT workers were killed in the line of duty. Yeagle says these scary statistics make him grateful for the Aggressive Driving Program.

"I want my guys to go home at the end of the night. I don't want anybody hurt. They just need to pay attention and slow down," Yeagle said.

Police say people who are pulled over for aggressive driving will be given a ticket. This program runs through May 5.

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