S.O. Participates in Aggressive Driving Campaign this Month

South Orange police are paying closer attention to speeders this month as participants in the "Obey the Signs or Pay the Fines" campaign, a yearly effort sponsored by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the state Division of Highway Traffic Safety.

"Highway Traffic Safety is asking officers to step up their efforts and be a little more aggressive in their enforcement of driving and speeding," said Sgt. Michael Corrigan of the Traffic Bureau. While July is a slow month when many people—including police officers—tend to take vacation, he said that a few safety checkpoints and additional radar details to track car speeds would be scheduled.

In South Orange, thoroughfares where more speeding tends to occur are Prospect Street, North Ridgewood Road, Centre Street and Scotland Road, Corrigan said. The goal of the campaign is to make drivers take more responsibility for actions behind the wheel, encouraging them to leave their homes a few minutes earlier instead of speeding and failing to yield to pedestrians or come to a complete stop at stop signs as they rush to their destinations, he said.