Crime & Safety

'Operation Trident' Targets Aggressive, Impaired Drivers

The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office in District 3 is piloting "Operation Trident," an effort to rid the roadways of habitual traffic offenders and aggressive and impaired drivers. The aim is to reduce the number of traffic-related fatalities.

 

The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office means business in its efforts to apprehend habitual traffic offenders, aggressive drivers and impaired drivers, with "Operation Trident" a new intitiative put into play this month.

Noting an increase in traffic-related fatalities throughout the county this year, Operation Trident came into play, launching July 20-21 and continuing July 27-28 in the northwest area of Hillsborough County, including Carrollwood, Citrus Park and Westchase.

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The area is known as District 3. Piloted there this month, Operation Trident holds promise for extension to other areas of the county as well, according to Cpl. Doug White, who is facilitating the campaign for the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.

This year in the unincorporated area of Hillsborough County there have been 31 traffic fatalities, White said in an interview. With the pilot launching of Operation Trident, he added, "We're out there to reduce that number."

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While "some crashes are truly accidents," White said, a good number of them can be "attributed to aggressive driving habits," including:

  • Speeding 15 to 20 miles per hour above the posted speed limit.
  • Cutting in and out of traffic.
  • Running red lights.
  • Acting out in road rage.

In short, White said, these are habits that display "a blatant disregard for anybody's safety on the road."

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Operation Trident has the following aims in mind, according to a release from the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office:

  • To apprehend habitual traffic offenders, who knowingly violate the law by driving in spite of legal sanctions.
  • To target offenders driving with suspended or revoked licenses, many of whom "have lost their licenses for a period of years due to the severity of their criminal driving history."
  • To enhance enforcement of laws designed to keep aggressive and impaired drivers off the roads.
  • To assign extra deputies to monitor habitual traffic offenders and to detect aggressive and impaired drivers.

According to White, there are people on the road whose driving privileges "have been revoked for three years, five years or up to life for the blatant disregard of anybody's safety on the road."

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White offered the following tips for both dealing with, and avoiding becoming, a habitual traffic offender:

  • Follow posted speed limits.
  • Remember the most basic of driving rules: buckle up, stop at stop signs, look both ways, don't follow too closely.
  • If stresses build, pull to the side of the road and relax.
  • Put the cell phone down. Do not text and drive.

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