Aggressive Drivers Targeted in Washington

OLYMPIA, WA. -- Washington State Patrol Chief Ronal Serpas announced that the Commercial Vehicle Division (CVD) recently put a new vehicle out on the road equipped with Secure Eye - computer system to assist in the detection of aggressive driving. The CVD is a division within the State Patrol which, through education and enforcement, ensures compliance with commercial motor vehicle regulations for public protection.

Recent statistics have shown 76 percent of fatalities involving commercial vehicles are caused by passenger cars. "Based on that statistic, we came up with the decision to utilize an unmarked covert vehicle and the latest technology to assist in our efforts to address this problem," CVD Aggressive Driver Apprehension Team coordinator Sergeant Mike Rupert said. "We are proactively utilizing this vehicle to observe, record evidence, and report violations on both passenger vehicles and commercial motor vehicles to educate aggressive drivers."

The new technology allows the State Patrol to identify vehicles in all lanes, and focus on the violator using a digital camera. Unlike the common video-taping, the new system also has a pre-event recording option which allows the user to set a specified parameter to actually record footage prior to the activation of emergency lights. This feature can be extremely beneficial when an officer is questioned in reference any type of profiling, because it captures the reason the officer originally turned on the emergency equipment. The computer records their actions along with the speed of the suspect vehicle and the patrol vehicle for potential court purposes. The system also has a global positioning feature which can be used to pinpoint the exact location of the patrol vehicle.

The new vehicle will assist 16 troopers statewide from the Field Operations Bureau who are part of the Aggressive Driver Apprehension Team. Last year these troopers accounted for 40 percent of the state's aggressive driving arrests and wrote 53,693 individual citations.

During its first 60 hours on the road in the King County area, CVD troopers recorded a total of 140 violations using the new technology. Of these violations 26 stops were made for aggressive driving and 10 of those stops were recorded as cars affecting commercial motor vehicles. Last year 237 people were killed in accidents caused by speeding. "This vehicle will be an excellent tool to reduce fatalities on the highway," Captain Fred R. Fakkema said.