FIRST LADY Announces Operation Drive to Live

RALEIGH – First Lady Mary Easley today joined state and local law enforcement officials to kick off Operation Drive to Live. The campaign is a safety initiative sponsored by the N.C. Department of Crime Control and Public Safety and the Highway Patrol to reduce traffic collisions and fatalities among teen drivers. This month's campaign will focus on 10 counties in the Triangle.

“We have lost 22 teens in traffic crashes in the Triangle this year, 10 in Johnston County alone,” said Easley. “I applaud the State Highway Patrol for conducting the Operation Drive to Live campaign and working with students and parents to prevent young people from making poor decisions behind the wheel that rob them of their potential and their future.”

Since 2004, 530 teenagers have been killed on North Carolina highways. Many collisions involving teenage drivers occur during their commute to and from high school. Speed is the leading cause of teenage traffic deaths. During Operation Drive to Live, troopers will be enforcing all traffic laws around schools and conducting traffic safety education programs in high schools in Wake, Wayne, Nash, Wilson, Johnston, Durham, Franklin, Chatham, Lee and Harnett counties.

Troopers will be looking for violations such as speeding, following too closely, careless and reckless driving and any violation of the motor vehicle laws that can result in serious injury or death.

Other partners in the campaign include: Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD); Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD); the Governor's Highway Safety Program; the Wake and Johnston County Sheriff's departments; Raleigh Police Department; North Carolina Child Fatality Task Force; Alcohol Law Enforcement; State Farm Insurance and N.C. Action for Children.

Motorists may report dangerous driving to the Highway Patrol by dialing *HP on their cellular phones from anywhere in the state. For more information about Operation Drive to Live, visit the N.C. Department of Crime Control and Public Safety's website at www.nccrimecontrol.org/shp.