Ticketing Aggressive Cars and Trucks

 

RALEIGH – Beginning this morning, the Highway Patrol will conduct Operation Ticketing Aggressive Cars and Trucks (TACT) to crackdown on motorists driving recklessly around commercial motor vehicles. Operation TACT will be conducted on I-77 in Iredell County between the Amity Hill Road and US 21 and on I-85 in Cabarrus County between Kannapolis Parkway and Lane Street. The operation will be conducted for the next two weeks. This operation is a collaborative effort between the Highway Patrol and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

“The Highway Patrol is responding to the increase of big truck crashes on our highways,” said Fletcher Clay, commander of the North Carolina State Highway Patrol. “We are going to make the highways as safe as possible. I have instructed our Troopers to aggressively crackdown on cars driving recklessly around big trucks and on commercial motor vehicles violating traffic laws.”

Each year Troopers and police officers investigate more than 16,000 crashes involving motor carrier vehicles statewide. Last year 151 people were killed and 5,845 injured in crashes involving motor carrier vehicles. These two locations were selected based on crash data and the large number of commercial motor vehicles and cars that travel on these interstates.

Commercial motor vehicle crashes also contribute significantly to traffic congestion, an increasing problem on these interstates. The magnitude of that problem is projected to double in the next 25 years. The highway patrol's motor carrier enforcement section, along with its local partners, has an obligation to both improve commercial motor vehicle safety as well as the efficiency of commercial vehicle operations. Law enforcement officials believe their efforts will result in fewer serious collisions between motorists and commercial motor vehicles, as well as the significant congestion that such collisions can cause.

“The Highway Patrol is determined to reduce both fatal and non-fatal traffic collisions involving big trucks on North Carolina highways,” said Bryan Beatty, secretary of the Department of Crime Control and Public Safety. “When cars and trucks collide; cars lose no matter which vehicle was at fault.”

Ticketing Aggressive Cars and Trucks is the first campaign to concentrate solely on vehicles driving aggressively around commercial motor vehicle violations and will be conducted in other counties later this year. Troopers will be using helicopters and unmarked patrol vehicles during the operation.

Additionally, State Troopers will be cracking down on motorists driving aggressively around big trucks and ticketing speeders, tailgaters, and aggressive drivers.

Motorists should remember the following safety tips when driving near a big truck:

Stay out of the No-Zone No-Zones are actual blind spots where the car “disappears” from the view of the truck driver.

Stay visible! Large trucks need a much longer breaking distance than a car. Don't cut into a trucks' space, if this happens it reduces a trucks' much needed breaking distance and restricts evasive action.

Don't tailgate a truck. The further you are away from a truck the less likely you will be involved in a collision.

Don't speed. Obey all speed limits.

Allow plenty of room. Large trucks are almost as wide as your lane of travel. Pacing too close behind one prevents you from reacting to changing traffic conditions.

Buckle-up Wearing your seatbelt is the single most important thing you can do to save your life in a crash.  

Protect yourself and your passengers by learning how to share the road safely with large vehicles.

 Motorists may report dangerous driving to the Highway Patrol by dialing *HP on their cellular phones.