Fairfax County Police Announce Summer HEAT Campaign

Fairfax County police are starting a new traffic safety campaign targeting unsafe and aggressive driving behaviors this summer.

Operation Summer HEAT (Help Eliminate Aggressive Traffic) begins June 15 and runs through Sept. 3. Officers will target moving violations such as reckless driving, speeding, improper passing, disregarding signs and lights, following too closely and failing to yield right of way in an effort to help make county roadways safer.

In 2011, officers cited 142,263 drivers for traffic safety violations in these categories, an increase of 1,621 over 2010.

“Clearly, motorists in Fairfax County have very busy lives and are often frustrated with heavy traffic,” said Capt. Susan Culin, commander of the traffic division, in a news release. “Just one fender bender caused by an aggressive driver makes a difficult situation even worse; we’re trying to do something about this ongoing problem.”

Statistics show an increase in such unsafe violations as disregarding stop signs, which stood at 4,484 in 2011, up from 3,919 the year before. Reckless driving offenses went from 2,788 to 2,863.

So far in 2012, officers have issued 11,906 speeding citations.