Keep Your Cool This Summer - Avoid Heated Driving

DC, MD and VA Law Enforcement Crackdown on Aggressive Driving

Summer Means Increased Aggressive Driving!

WASHINGTON, June 20 -- The following is being issued by Smooth Operator:

  What:   News conference for 2005 Smooth Operator campaign featuring law
          enforcement from Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia.
          With summer being the season of aggressive driving, more than 80
          state and local law enforcement agencies are banding together to
          keep residents safe.  With children out of school, construction
          activities ramping up, the influx of tourists, and area traffic
          woes people need to keep their cool this summer and avoid driving
          aggressively.

  Who:    Lieutenant Colonel Suzanne Devlin, Fairfax County Police
          Department Inspector Kevin Keegan, Metropolitan Police Department
           (District of Columbia)
          Lieutenant Colonel Michael J. Fischer, Maryland State Police
          Bob Marbourg, Traffic Reporter, WTOP Radio

  Why:    The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
          estimates that aggressive driving behaviors -- speeding,
          tailgating, running red lights and stop signs, improper passing
          and other dangerous driving maneuvers -- has cost billions of
          dollars and may be responsible for one-third of injury crashes and
          two-thirds of highway fatalities.  Projected to Maryland, Virginia
          and the District of Columbia, more than 1,000 regional highway
          fatalities annually may be associated with aggressive driving
          behaviors.

          Speeding is a factor in 31 percent of all fatal crashes, killing
          an average of 1,000 Americans every month. NHTSA estimates the
          economic cost to society of speed-related crashes to be more than
          $40 billion each year.

          The DC area has 3rd worst congestion in America, according to the
          Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) -- up from 4th place in 2003.
          In the last 21 years, the average commuter saw time lost to
          traffic delays increase from 21 hours a year to 69 hours.

  When:   Tuesday, June 21, 2005 -- FIRST OFFICIAL DAY OF SUMMER!
          10:45 a.m. -- News conference
          11:15 a.m. -- Ride-alongs with law enforcement officers

  Where:  Metropolitan Police Department
          Second District Building
          3320 Idaho Ave, NW
          Washington, D.C. 20016