Austin police to target aggressive I-35 drivers

A campaign launching next week will deploy more than three-dozen Austin police officers to crackdown on aggressive drivers on Interstate 35. The ultimate goal, authorities say, is to curb the number of serious and fatal collisions.

More officers than normal will be assigned to patrol the corridor. They will be ticketing drivers for speeding, unsafe movement, tailgating, passing emergency vehicles, failing to signal and safety belt violations — all transgressions the department considers aggressive driving.

Lt. Troy Officer, with the department’s highway enforcement command, said that kind of behavior can lead to major crashes.

Officers in San Antonio and Fort Worth will also have a greater presence on I-35 in a concerted effort to curb aggressive driving this week, he said, calling the highway one of the most dangerous corridors in the state.

Citywide, 17 people have died in fatal collisions so far this year, Officer said. Four of those incidents happened on the interstate or on the service roads flanking it.

“We’re throwing a lot of resources at this problem,” Officer said. Federal grant money from the Ticketing Aggressive Cars and Trucks program is paying for the manpower for the Austin effort. “Our goal is really to save lives.”

The campaign goes from March 17 to 23. Officer said police will be dedicated to looking for aggressive driving on the interstate 14 to 21 hours a day during that time. The Travis County Sheriff’s Office separately plans to have extra deputies patrolling county roads that week to look for intoxicated drivers.

The campaigns coincide with the spring break of several school districts, colleges and universities. It’s a time when authorities tend to see more traffic on the interstate, Officer said.

The Austin Police Department’s effort to curb aggressive driving on the interstate could be among the first of its kind, Officer said, and could happen again.