The North Dakota Highway Patrol (NDHP) announces a new offensive strategy to increase safety on North Dakota roadways. The strategy, dubbed Operation Whiteout, will saturate select areas and roadways within the state with troopers and their white squad cars. Theintent of the program is to reduce motor vehicle crashes during peak travel periods.

NDHP commanders throughout the state will coordinate resources during these select periods, assigning troopers to pre-identified areas of responsibility. These areas may include specific roadways or regions selected based upon high traffic and/or crash rates.

Unsafe driving behaviors or equipment conditions often trigger traffic crashes. These behavioral or equipment conditions are referred to as contributing factors. Investigations reveal that had those contributing factors not been present, the crash would likely have not occurred. Behavioral contributing factors are identified during almost every fatal traffic crash investigated by the NDHP. These factors can range from something as innocent as a momentary attention distraction to something as reprehensible as driving under the influence of alcohol.

Traffic safety studies indicate that highly visible enforcement efforts encourage motorists to drive responsibly.”While enforcement is proven to prevent crashes, driving defensively is the best insurance any motorist has of arriving at their destination safely,” states NDHP Superintendent James Prochniak. “I urge motorists to remember that driving is a full time responsibility.”