(KLIX) – More law officers will be on the roads across the state starting today looking for aggressive drivers.

According to the Idaho Transportation Department (ITD), more than 50 law enforcement agencies across the Gem State will take part in the campaign to maintain safety on Idaho’s roads.

“This effort comes in the middle of the 100 Deadliest Days of Summer,” ITD said in a news release on Friday. This is the time between Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends when there is an increase in fatal crashes in Idaho and across the country.”

The department said that preliminary reports indicate that 49 people have so far lost their lives on Idaho’s roads this year since Memorial Day.

“Aggressive driving crashes account for more than half of all traffic crashes in Idaho and all too often those crashes have deadly consequences,” John Tomlinson from ITD’s Office of Highway Safety (OHS) said in a statement. “We can all do things like slowing down, not tailgating, and obeying traffic signs or just being a little more patient behind the wheel.”

The top contributing factor in all Idaho crashes is aggressive driving, the department said, which includes speeding, following too closely, failing to obey traffic signs or signals, and weaving in and out of lanes.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 94 percent of crashes are as a result of human behaviors like the ones listed above.

Tomlinson said motor vehicle travel is the riskiest situation we lace ourselves in almost daily. “Each driver has the responsibility to pay attention to how we are driving, and to be engaged behind the wheel if we are to make it to our destinations safely,” he said.

The aggressive driving campaign is funded by OHS as part of its “Shift” campaign to eliminate traffic fatalities and keep Idaho families whole, the department said.

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