Do you think its okay to speed through St. Charles and even run a stoplight?  Better think twice before you drive like that, particularly on Highway K!  Why?  It’s unsafe and the St. Charles Police are cracking down on drivers on Highway K, a major north-south thoroughfare between interstates 70 and 64, said Capt. Jeff Gray of the O’Fallon Police Department.

Gray, the commander of the department’s operations division, said the effort will try to better enforce more speeding and traffic laws and the effort will also include an educational effort, particularly in high schools to educate young drivers.

The National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration defines aggressive driving as when drivers commit a combination of moving violations that endanger others or property. Examples of aggressive driving include exceeding speed limits, following another vehicle too closely, erratic or unsafe lane changes, improperly signaling and running through stop, yield or other traffic signs.  The most dangerous examples are motorists who ignore stoplights, which cause many accidents, he said. Accidents, along with citizen complaints, prompted the campaign, he said. In 2012, O’Fallon police wrote 1,542 crash reports, 301 of which involved injuries.

These statistics are tragic and really upset me.  Aggressive driving like distracted driving has terrible consequences.  The consequences of these selfish acts are often similar: you could cause an accident and while you may not be criminally liable if you drive aggressively or drive distracted, you will certainly be civilly liable.