The Fairfax County Police Department on March 13 rolled out its 2023 “Road Shark” campaign, a high-visibility and coordinated enforcement-and-education effort to deter aggressive driving, reduce crashes and change driving behavior.
The department held its first Road Shark program in 1999 in response to increased crashes and aggressive driving in Fairfax County. After each round of increased enforcement, speeding violations and other reckless charges across the county dropped, police said.
With the significant increase in crashes in recent years, now is the time to roll out the Road Shark program once again, police said. Educating aggressive and distracted drivers will be a key to the success of the initiative, they said.
The department will have police officers in high-visibility areas all over the county. Officers will be looking for an array of traffic violations including aggressive driving, excessive speeding, driving under the influence, school-zone violations, distracted driving and other offenses.
A 2022 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration synthesis of studies concluded that high-visibility enforcement efforts such as Road Shark reduced crashes and improved safety outcomes in study locations.
Fairfax County police officers, along with Virginia State Police troopers, will use data-driven and risk-based enforcement strategies and operations that target areas with high crash concentrations and reduce crashes. They also will be focusing on concurrent education and enforcement campaigns to better inform motorists and reduce unsafe driving behaviors across the county.
In conjunction with the police department’s 2023 monthly traffic-safety campaigns, Road Shark will be an integral part of this approach to keeping community members safe, police said.
