Several law enforcement officers were honored by Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) for their outstanding participation in the 2012 PennDOT funded Pennsylvania Aggressive Driving Enforcement and Education Project.

Honored were Det. Scott Preboshyak, Lehighton Police Department; Chief Matthew Kuzma, Kidder Township Police Department; Chief Brian Markovchick, Weatherly Police Department; and Officer Edward Kubert, Weatherly Police Department.Also to be recognized is Chief Mike Morresi, Beaver Meadows Police Department; Officer Jason Doll, Franklin Township Police Department; and Pennsylvania State Police at the Lehighton and Fern Ridge stations.Awards were presented by Robert Webre, North East Law Enforcement liaison, Tuesday morning at the Carbon County Emergency Management building.The presentations were made in cooperation with North Central Highway Safety Network's Community Traffic Safety Project and is part of PennDOT's Just Drive PA initiative.Webre said that aggressive driving crashes on local targeted roadways decreased in 2012, saving lives and preventing injuries.The program encompasses six counties: Carbon, Monroe, Schuylkill, Lehigh, Northampton and Berks.According to statistics from the first wave, a total of 4,347 citations were issued, with a total of 4,584 officer contacts. There were 21 child seat belt violations and seven 'tween (age 8 to 16) seat belt citations, one youth (ages 16 to under 18) seat belt violations and 109 adult (ages 18 and above) seat belt violations.A total of 2,459 drivers were charged with speeding and 38 were cited for careless/reckless driving. There were 23 drivers charged for following two closely and 35 people were cited for improper passing. Also 24 drivers were charged for improper turning.A total of 248 people were cited for ignoring traffic control signals and another 424 were cited for not obeying traffic control devices. There were also 135 drivers cited for suspended citations, 604 other citations and 15 felony arrests.There were 35 DUI arrests, 23 drug related arrests and 26 warrant arrests. There were 11 motorcycle contacts, with two people charged for not having a motorcycle license.There were also four other motorcycle citations and two motorcycle arrests. There were 544 truck contacts and nine trucks were weighed, with seven weight violations. There were 81 inspector violations with trucks and 13

O.O.S. trucks and

O.O.S. drivers.The next wave is planning for July 8 through Aug. 15, 2013.