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Various enforcement and education efforts this month focus on highway safety

Delaware Office of Highway Safety
The Delaware Office of Highway Safety is taking action to reduce the number of crashes and fatalities across the First State. They have three high-visibility enforcement and education initiatives planned this month.

With about a month-and-a-half left in summer, the Delaware Office of Highway Safety is implementing measures intended to reduce the number of crashes and fatalities across the First State.

 

The Office of Highway Safety has three high-visibility enforcement and education initiatives planned this month.

OHS Director Jana Simpler says they start this week.

“We’re running occupant protection and speed, which is asking our law enforcement officers to focus on motorists that are unbelted as well as speeding. That’s occurring August 8th, actually the entire month, through the end of August, on the 27th. We’re also running a three-day mobilization on motorcycle safety as well,” said Simpler.

The motorcycle safety mobilization is this Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Simpler says police will be looking for unsafe and illegal motorcycle riding behaviors, as well as other vehicles driving unsafely with motorcycles present.

The third initiative - Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over - will be held the second half of August into the beginning of September. Simpler says law enforcement will be out in force to arrest motorists driving while impaired.

 

Simpler says highway safety initiatives are more important now than ever.

“We rely on crash data to determine exactly what type of mobilizations we want to run, as well as the location. So it’s important because we’re relying on the data that tells us that this time of year, particularly in August, we see a spike in fatalities," Simpler said.

As of July 31st, 2018, there had been 63 people killed on Delaware roads so far this year - compared to 53 at the same time last year.

 

Kelli Steele has over 30 years of experience covering news in Delaware, Baltimore, Winchester, Virginia, Phoenix, Arizona and San Diego, California.