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Milwaukee Wins Federal Help to Control Aggressive Driving

7 October 1998

Milwaukee Wins Federal Help to Control Aggressive Driving

           Transportation Secretary Slater Announces Award of Funds
                        To City and Police Department

    MILWAUKEE, Oct. 6 -- U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney E.
Slater today announced the award of $476,525 to the City of Milwaukee and the
Milwaukee Police Department for an 18-month demonstration project designed to
reduce the growing problem of aggressive driving, the first federally-funded
program of its kind in the nation.
    The Milwaukee initiative is a one-of-a-kind project.  The total grant of
$650,241, which includes a local match of $173,716, will fund a study of
aggressive driving and provide information and enforcement results to law
enforcement agencies across the U.S.
    "Aggressive driving is more than a traffic problem.  It is a growing
threat to public safety,"  Secretary Slater said.  "What we learn from
Milwaukee will go a long way toward improving safety around the country, which
is President Clinton's highest transportation priority."
    The department's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
will work closely with Milwaukee and Wisconsin officials in their efforts to
control aggressive driving.
    "For too many families, the consequences of just a single instant of
aggressive driving are often tragic," NHTSA Administrator Ricardo Martinez,
M.D., said.  "The cost of losing your cool is too high."
    Milwaukee competed with 26 other metropolitan areas for the initial
federal aggressive driving enforcement grant.  Police Chief Arthur Jones said
while the city's traffic citations have doubled as the result of efforts to
make neighborhoods safer, offenses most commonly associated with aggressive
driving remain a problem.
    The goals of the Milwaukee project include:

    -- developing an innovative enforcement strategy to reduce aggressive
       driving.
    -- developing and evaluating the effectiveness of public information and
       education programs to discourage aggressive driving.
    -- documenting the involvement of drugs and alcohol.
    -- identifying legislative, prosecutorial and judicial needs to address
       the problem.
    -- reducing the area's per capita congestion costs, fuel waste, and lost
       person hours because of congestion.

    The Milwaukee aggressive driving/innovative enforcement grant is part of a
comprehensive DOT/NHTSA program to combat the growing problem.  The department
will soon release results of a national survey of aggressive driving
practices.  In 1999, the department will host a national summit consisting of
law enforcement, prosecutors and members of the judiciary to solicit input to
develop a workable definition of aggressive driving, guidelines for law
enforcement and the judiciary for charging and sentencing, and materials to
increase awareness of the issue.
     The U.S. Department of Transportation may be reached over the internet at
http://www.dot.gov/briefing.htm