Lehigh County officials commended selected municipal police officers June 17 for their efforts to curb aggressive driving in the area.

Among the nine officers honored at last week's ceremony at the Allentown Police Academy, Officer Bryan Losagio was recognized from the Salisbury Township Police Department.

The agencies in last year's campaign wrote a total of 53,587 citations related to aggressive driving, according to a press release.

Mark Alonge, project coordinator and grant administrator for the Aggressive Driving Enforcement and Education Campaign, said in an interview the campaign's yearly focus depends on crash data collected every year. Alonge is also the executive director of the North Central Highway Safety Network.

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation analyzes the statistics every year and provides funding for the areas determined to need it the most.

Alonge said he has been with the aggressive driving program since it began in 2006, which is generally focused on speeding but includes other forms of aggressive driving. Speeding accounted for almost 60 percent of the aggressive-driving related citations last year for the police agencies participating in the program.

"Speeding is the number one problem every year," Alonge said. "That's always going to be the focus."

Robin Rivera, traffic safety coordinator for NCHSN, said in an interview the officers at the ceremony were given awards for "aggressively enforcing" the laws against aggressive driving in Lehigh County."

In a press release, Rivera said the focus of last year's campaign, for which the officers were given awards, concentrated on distracted driving, work zone safety violations and speeding.

"Each of them [the officers] was nominated by their chief of police for outstanding effort and contribution to the aggressive driving program," Rivera said.

Alonge said at the meeting he will begin to direct his attention to the Buckle Up PA initiative to raise seat belt usage in the area, so he urged the officers present to issue secondary seat belt citations to motorists already stopped for other reasons in order to "hit home" on seat belt enforcement.

"The only way to get them to buckle up is by writing a citation," Alonge said at the meeting.

The summer wave of the program, set to begin July 6, will focus on motorists running red lights, tailgating and speeding, prominent issues during the summer months. The program will include the Pennsylvania State Police and more than 330 municipal police departments will be part of the statewide initiative.

The county will also be promoting a "coordinated effort" against aggressive driving, said Bob Webre, law enforcement liason for NCHSN. As part of the coordinated effort, Webre suggested officers all go out and crack down on aggressive driving together July 14.

"The bigger the splash, the better it works," Webre said.

Losagio, who was recognized for writing a large number of citations in the past wave of the program, gave a presentation at the ceremony sharing his wisdom on the ways to enforce the aggressive driving campaign.

During the presentation, Losagio reviewed traffic violation triggers officers should use to pull over aggressive drivers in high-risk zones. David Wood, an officer of the Fountain Hill Police Department, assisted Losagio in demonstrating ways for the officers to spot faulty inspection stickers on vehicles.