Law enforcement cracking down on aggressive driving heading into holiday season - WHP Harrisburg
HARRISBURG, Pa. — With aggressive driving on the rise throughout the pandemic, officials are concerned there could be a perfect storm this holiday week.
“PA roadways are an increasingly dangerous place to be,” AAA Central Penn Public Relations Manager Doni Lee Spiegel tells CBS 21 News’ Samantha York. “Central Penn region is always really busy when it comes to traffic, especially being a Keystone State.”
Thanksgiving is the highest travel period of the year across Pennsylvania, and AAA predicts 53.4 million people nationwide will be in the air or on the road this week.
“It won’t be at 2019 levels, but it’s going to be much bigger. Twice as much as last year,” says Harrisburg International Airport (HIA) Spokesperson Scott Miller.
HIA is already seeing backlogs, urging travelers to pack their patience.
“Get here early, everything’s taking a little bit longer to process. We’ve had people almost miss flights." Miller said.
Packing patience will come in handy on the roadways, too. Officials say fewer cars on the roads during the height o the pandemic, paired with stress, has caused drivers to get more aggressive behind the wheel.
“We’ve seen an increase of crashes, of injuries, people speeding and driving aggressively just because of the heightened traffic,” Pennsylvania State Police Troop H Public Information Officer Trooper Megan Ammerman explains.
Pennsylvania State Police is increasing enforcement this week, specifically looking for aggressive drivers, saying that aggressive driving combined with the road rage that comes with holiday traffic and stress could make for dangerous results.
“Traffic especially at a holiday and congestion is always an issue when it brings up road rage, which is something that’s different than aggressive driving,” PennDOT Spokesperson Fritzi Schreffler adds. “Aggressive driving is your normal behaviors, you tend to speed, you tend to change lanes without signaling, tailgating, things like that. Road rage is somebody else’s response to what you’re doing.”
Officials advise motorists to check 511PA.com, where historic travel times are available starting Tuesday, to plan their routes.
source: https://local21news.com/news/local/law-enforcement-cracking-down-on-aggressive-driving-heading-into-holiday-season
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