The La Porte Police Department will be running 80 hours of Operation Pull Over funded extra patrols from March 14 – March 24 to address aggressive and dangerous driving violations in our community. The purpose of these patrols is to reduce crashes and injuries by encouraging safe driving behavior by motorists driving on the streets of our community. Violators can expect to be ticketed.
In 2014, the La Porte Police Department investigated 550 property damage crashes and 110 personal injury crashes that injured a total of 144 people. Some driving behaviors that were more commonly listed as contributing factors in these crashes were:
1. Disregarding a regulatory sign or signal or failure to yield was a factor in 29.36% of crashes.
2. Following too closely was a factor in 15.66% of crashes.
3. Unsafe backing was a factor in 14.75% of crashes.
4. Unsafe speed or driving too fast for conditions was a factor in 9.79% of crashes.
5. Improper turning was a factor in 6.17% of crashes.
6. Improper lane usage was listed as a factor in 5.72% of crashes.
7. Unsafe lane movement was listed as a factor in 5.42% of crashes.
8. Distracted driving or cell phone usage was a factor in 3.76% of crashes.
9. Aggressive driving was a factor in 3.61% of crashes.
10. Driving left of center was a factor in 2.27% or crashes.
The top five contributing factors in crashes listed above are present on 75.73% of our crashes. If we look at the top ten contributing factors, they are in 96.51% of our crashes. “So, as we can see from the statistics listed above, the vast majority of the traffic crashes in the City of La Porte could be prevented if motorists would follow the traffic laws and drive more carefully. We are asking the motoring public to please help us reduce crashes and injuries in our community by obeying our traffic laws,” said Captain Tom Heath.
Operation Pull Over is a traffic safety grant program funded by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration and administered by the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute. The goal of Operation Pull Over is reducing traffic crashes injuries and fatalities by promoting passenger restraint use and supporting impaired and dangerous driving enforcement. You may learn more about Operation Pull Over, the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute and its other programs by visiting http://www.in.gov/cji.