Photo: screenshot from WBRC
Alabama State Troopers recently began a program called Ticketing Aggressive Cars and Trucks, or TACT, which like its name suggests is designed to catch bad drivers. A crackdown on bad drivers isn’t exactly newsworthy, but the interesting part of this story is the stealthy way that troopers are finding the drivers. And don’t worry, they’re not hiding on bridges or behind trees.
Instead, they’re using the ultimate undercover cars: 18-Wheelers. Troopers are riding in the passenger seats of these trucks essentially acting as a spotter for reckless drivers that are weaving in and out of traffic, following too close, texting while driving and cutting people off. From the semi truck, the trooper can radio to nearby units to pull over the offending motorist.
Right now, this program is only being used on section of interstate near Birmingham, AL that the report says is plagued with a high volume of crashes. Eventually, State Trooper could use this program along other high-traffic areas of the state. The obvious advantage this plan gives troopers is the ability to monitor traffic undetected, but the high vantage point also allows them to look down into the cars to see what drivers are doing such as texting or other distractions.
On a broader scale, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration launched a pilot program by the same name in state of Washington with the goal of reducing aggressive driving around semi trucks and other commercial vehicles. There is no indication as to whether the nationwide campaign has reduced crashes or how many tickets Alabama’s new program has resulted in, but it definitely sounds like a good way to try to teach reckless drivers an expensive lesson. Now if only more states would start cracking down on people driving too slow in the passing lane.
The article and video report can be seen at Fox 6 Alabama.
Right now, this program is only being used on section of interstate near Birmingham, AL that the report says is plagued with a high volume of crashes. Eventually, State Trooper could use this program along other high-traffic areas of the state. The obvious advantage this plan gives troopers is the ability to monitor traffic undetected, but the high vantage point also allows them to look down into the cars to see what drivers are doing such as texting or other distractions.
On a broader scale, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration launched a pilot program by the same name in state of Washington with the goal of reducing aggressive driving around semi trucks and other commercial vehicles. There is no indication as to whether the nationwide campaign has reduced crashes or how many tickets Alabama’s new program has resulted in, but it definitely sounds like a good way to try to teach reckless drivers an expensive lesson. Now if only more states would start cracking down on people driving too slow in the passing lane.
The article and video report can be seen at Fox 6 Alabama.
Google News