Austin Police To Crack Down On Speeding Motorists, Drunk Drivers

You might want to think twice before starting that ignition after tossing back a few at your holiday parties this season - the police department announced yesterday that they're increasing traffic enforcement efforts for the next few weeks as Austin prepares to celebrate the winter holidays. Specifically targeted are "drunken, aggressive and erratic drivers," who were largely responsible for last winter's increased traffic fatality count - 8 occured between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day. Dubbed Operation Holiday Lights, the collaborative effort between Austin Police, the Texas Dept of Public Safety and the Travis County Sheriff's Office affects just about everyone on the road:

The usual 9-mph cushion that officers allow for drivers to go over the speed limit will be reduced to 4, Police Chief Stan Knee said.

Aggressive and distracted drivers will be cited along with drunken drivers.

Cracking down on aggressive and distracted drivers is all good and well, but Austinist secretly wishes that they'd also do something about the endless hordes of flat-out incompetent drivers who plague our city. Now there's a Christmas wish.

The facts, and how they sober:

There have been more than 80 traffic fatalities in Travis County this year. Of those, nearly 60 were in Austin. Forty-eight percent of those involved drugs or alcohol, and a third involved speeding, Knee said.