Riverhead Town Police will participate in the governor’s “No Empty Chair” campaign next week.
The campaign is a statewide teen driver education effort being launched as prom and graduation season arrives, with the aim of preventing tragedies among teen drivers, according to the governor’s traffic safety committee.
From April 24 to 28, patrol officers will focus on a different traffic safety threat each day of the week in the vicinity of the town’s local high schools, Riverhead and McGann-Mercy, Riverhead Town Police said in a press release.
Patrol efforts will focus on traffic safety issues such as speeding, seatbelts, cell phone use and texting, underage drinking and impaired driving, which also involves zero tolerance, police said. With zero tolerance, any operator under 21 with a blood alcohol content of .02 or above but not more than .07 would be up for an administrative review before the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles with a good chance to have his or her license revoked or suspended. A BAC higher than .07 subjects the operator to subsequent DWI provisions.
Also, “Operation Safe-Stop” is scheduled for April 27, police said. Operation Safe-Stop is a law enforcement and educational initiative addressing the problem of motorists who illegally pass stopped buses, according to the release. It aims to both target drivers who violate the law and educate drivers that passing a stopped school bus with its red flashing lights on is illegal and dangerous to the student riders.
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