PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Tailgating, illegal lane changes and speeding, surely you’ve seen driving like this on local roads; maybe you’ve even done a few of these things.

Now though, police are going after these aggressive drivers.

You hear a lot about aggressive driving, but do you really know what it is? PennDOT and local police plan to teach you, and put a stop to it.

PennDOT is handing out $2.5 million to local police and state police to combat aggressive driving.

“Aggressive driving is anything from illegal lane changes to speeding to careless driving or running a red light,” said Capt. John Phoennik, of the South Fayette Police Department. “It’s not necessarily a road rage type thing but it’s illegal violations of the traffic laws.”

The effort is on Route 50 near Bridgeville with officers from South Fayette Police Department.

“The lack of patience, people want to get from point A to point B,” said Capt. Phoennik. “And they will do whatever – illegally change lanes, tailgate, those kinds of things is what we are going to be on the lookout for.”

PennDOT is quick to point out that aggressive driving often comes from distracted driving.

“When people are going down the highway and they are not paying attention to what they are doing, now they are not paying attention to their speed, they are not paying attention to the traffic around them, so now we find people who are going over the speed limit, they are tailgating people, they are making quick lane changes because they are not paying attention to the traffic flow,” said PennDOT’s Safety Press Officer Jay Ofsanik.

This enforcement effort includes the Cecil Township Police Department and is part of a statewide effort of 350 municipal police forces running through April 28.

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