BUFFALO, N.Y. (WBEN) – There have been more reported instances of increased speeding and aggressive driving in Western New York.
The latest data shows the number of highway deaths nationwide in 2020 was the greatest in more than a decade, even though cars and trucks drove fewer miles during the pandemic.
"Here we are in 2021 and we are seeing the same amount of increase in speeding but the problem is we're seeing the full force of all the traffic," New York State Police Public Information Officer James O'Callaghan said. "We have construction going on right now and we are constantly dealing with speeders."
O'Callaghan said distracted driving, along with speed, are causing many accidents.
State Police in Western New York have already issued 19,000 traffic tickets so far this year. Last year, there were 27,000 tickets issued.
"Educationally, if we get out there, it's a lot of our younger drivers who are driving distracted," O'Callaghan said. "What we do is go into schools and colleges and really push educationally how dangerous that is…We do see a slight decrease every time we do these big efforts. But schools were remote and we weren't really able to get into any of that in 2020. A lot of these younger drivers are just hitting the roads, maybe for the first time because the DMVs just allowed them to get their permits and licenses."
The City of Niagara Falls this week announced an upcoming Aggressive Driving Campaign. The special enforcement detail will be addressing complaints from residents about increasing reckless operation of vehicles within the city.
Niagara Falls Mayor Rob Restaino said there are some parts of the city where drivers aren't paying attention to traffic signals and speed limits.
"It's difficult," Mayor Restaino said. "With children out of school and playing in neighborhoods, this kind of aggressive driving presents itself as a very difficult situation in these neighborhoods."
Restaino is hopeful the recent publicity of speeding issues will encourage drivers to slow down in these neighborhoods. However, he said if the issue persists, there will be more tickets issued.
