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 the ceremony at the Allentown Police Academy, Upper Macungie Township Police Officer Cory Reader was recognized for his efforts.

Mark Alonge, project coordinator for the Aggressive Driving Enforcement and Education Campaign, said in an interview the campaign's yearly focus depends on crash data collected every year.

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

Speeding accounted for almost 60 percent of the aggressive-driving related citations last year for the police agencies that participated 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 the North Central Highway Safety Network, said in an interview the officers at the ceremony were given awards for "aggressively enforcing" the laws against aggressive driving in Lehigh County.

She 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 were nominated by their chief of police for outstanding effort and contribution to the aggressive driving program," Rivera said.

Alonge said he will begin to direct his attention to the Buckle Up PA initiative to raise seat belt usage in the area, so he urged 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.

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 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 on July 14.

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