[South Florida DX Association] Ticket blitz to target western Broward drivers

[Peter Rimmel]

Drivers BEWARE!!!

Ticket blitz to target western Broward drivers
By Macollvie Jean-Francois | South Florida Sun-Sentinel
2:44 PM EDT, March 15, 2009
BROWARD COUNTY - Broward County
Drivers beware: Starting Monday morning, Broward Sheriff's Office deputies
and state troopers will be out in force, conducting a ticket blitz to stop
aggressive driving in western Broward County, a Sheriff's Office spokesman
said.

The joint operation to find and stop aggressive motorists, and infractions
like failing to "Move Over" or wear seatbelts will go on for four days,
Sheriff's Office spokesman Mike Jachles said in a news release. Squads will
be on Interstates 75 and 595 and on the Sawgrass Expressway from 8 a.m. to 2
p.m. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. On Thursday, the officers will patrol
those highways from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m.

The need for such an operation is underscored by a crash Thursday that left
Sheriff's Deputy Tony Morales hospitalized, Jachles said. Morales, a member
of the Regional Traffic Enforcement Unit, was making a traffic stop on
Interstate 95, with his emergency lights on, when driver Jessica Schwartz,
23, plowed into his cruiser.


Officials called the crash a "classic example" of a driver failing to obey
the state law requiring motorists to move over one lane when they see
emergency vehicles on the side of the road. Morales had participated in a
recent event highlighting the need for drivers to give authorities a wide
berth on the road.

Also on March 27, the multi-agency anti-aggressive driving taskforce that
issued 189 tickets during a these "Blitz on Aggressive Drivers" a few weeks
ago in western Broward will again be out in force, Jachles said. This time,
"Operation BAD" officers will work on I-95 from Davie Boulevard to Hillsboro
Boulevard, using a variety of unmarked cars and motorcycles as well as
marked patrol cars.