In March, Fairfax County police and Virginia State Police teamed up to put a focus on catching motorists driving dangerously in the county. It was called the 2023 “Road Shark” campaign and in four waves, 25,000 warnings and citations went out.
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“That means these are 25,000 people that are aware that we’re enforcing these traffic laws, and that they need to be more careful and safer on our roadways to protect everyone involved, including themselves,” said Alaina Gertz with Fairfax County police. Officers and troops looked for speeders, aggressive and distracted drivers, and even those driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol. “I would say ‘Road Shark’ specifically has contributed to the overall year-to-date reduction in crashes and year-to-date increase in driving while intoxicated arrests; we identified so many people that were driving while intoxicated,” Gertz said. The first wave of the program saw 3,786 warnings and citations, the second saw 5,025, the third — 5,848, and the fourth wave — a staggering 8,892. Gertz said campaigns like this really work. The department believes they are contributing to a 55% decrease in deadly crashes in the county that have been seen this year. “All of these traffic safety campaigns, they can have that catchy name, but it’s really the hard work that is behind them that makes them so important,” Gertz said.
