Aggressive Drivers Beware: FHP Is Looking For You

BRADENTON, FL — Floridians and visitors to the Sunshine State will want to think twice before making aggressive moves behind the wheel. The Florida Highway Patrol on Friday announced the kickoff of a statewide campaign meant to crack down on aggressive drivers.

The Ticketing Aggressive Cars and Trucks, or TACT, operation is a safety campaign meant to educate people about the dangers posed by driving aggressively around large trucks. The campaign is also hoped to reduce the state’s number of commercial motor vehicle crashes.

Get the Patch newsletter and alerts in your inbox.

“FHP is committed to making our highways safer, and one way to accomplish this is to enforce safe driving around commercial motor vehicles,” Col. Gene Spaulding, director of the Florida Highway Patrol, said in a Friday statement. “We remind drivers to exercise patience when driving around large trucks and other vehicles to ensure the safety of everyone on the roadway.”

TACT campaigns are not new in Florida. Last year, the agency issued 67,144 citations related to aggressive driving behaviors during similar crackdowns. During the first TACT crackdown of 2017, which ran from Feb. 24 through March 9, the patrol issued 15,477 citations.

The latest campaign kicked off Aug. 11 and runs through Aug. 24.

Motorists who want to steer clear of citations will want to avoid “following too closely, speeding and making unsafe lane changes,” the agency said. Troopers will be looking for both car and truck drivers who don’t follow the rules of the road.

Motorists involved in crashes with commercial vehicles tend to be at a “serious disadvantage,” especially since some trucks can top out at 80 feet and 20 tons, the patrol noted earlier this year.

Lt. Greg Bueno, of the patrol’s Troop F, said there are good reasons for conducting operations like TACT.

“There were nearly 400,000 traffic crashes in the state of Florida last year resulting in over 3,000 deaths, tens of thousands of injuries and property damage,” Bueno told Patch before this year’s first campaign kicked off. “The Florida Highway Patrol wants to remind all motorists to increase their awareness level whenever driving around trucks and of the importance of staying alert and distraction-free anytime (they’re) behind the wheel.”

Motorists who want to protect themselves around large trucks are encouraged to:

• Stay out of the “No Zone” – Large trucks tend to have rather large blind spots. To avoid those blind spots, motorists should refrain from tailgating big trucks. In addition, it’s best to avoid passing on the right or moving in front of a truck before the entire vehicle is visible in the rearview mirror.
• Refrain from cutting off large trucks – Motorists who do put themselves at serious risk because trucks simply cannot stop as fast as cars, the patrol reminded.
• Exercise patience – If a large truck is moving slower than desired, be patient until it is safe to pass.
• Don’t drive distracted – This, the patrol says, goes for all motorists all the time. Dangerous distractions include texting, fiddling with a radio, talking to passengers and more.

To find out more about No Zones and safety around big trucks, visit FHP online.

Photo courtesy of the Florida Highway Patrol