PPD expands traffic enforcement blitz to northeast, northwest sections of the city

PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Philadelphia police are widening their crackdown on aggressive driving beyond Broad Street to include busy arteries in the northeast and northwest sections of the city.

“We have identified multiple corridors – high volume corridors – where, unfortunately, it’s become all too frequent for aggressive driving behavior,” Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Michael McCarrick said Monday.

Police are now targeting speeding, red light running and other driving infractions along Harbison Avenue; Castor Avenue between Rhawn Street and Oxford Circle; Cottman Avenue from Roosevelt Boulevard to Burholme Park; Henry Avenue between Crease Lane and the Andorra Shopping Center; and Ogontz Avenue between 69th Street and Cheltenham Avenue.

“If you travel anywhere, you can see how people are — excessive speed, traversing between lanes in a manner that’s not really conducive to safety,” McCarrick said.

Over the last three weeks, police on North Broad Street have issued 850 tickets.

“If you engage in breaking the law and we see you, we’re going to stop you and we’re going to issue the ticket and hope that next time you think about it,” McCarrick said.

In the short term, McCarrick says these efforts are making a difference.

“You definitely see modified behavior in and around the areas that we stop,” he said. “But the true testing gauge of it is the feedback we get from the community.”