Editor's note: State troopers announced this week they will set up a sobriety checkpoint at an undisclosed location in Essex County beginning sometime this Saturday night into Sunday morning.
The minutes after a state trooper steps out of a cruiser and onto a highway shoulder rank among the most dangerous in this line of work. The risk isn't limited to who may be waiting for them in the car or truck they pulled over.
Last month, state police signaled their intention to push back against the threat that everyday motorists pose to troopers and others on the road through reckless operation of their vehicles.
A year after a new law compels travelers to leave a lane open around emergency vehicles stopped along highways, accidents continue to injure or kill members of the Massachusetts State Police. In June and July, troopers working alongside highways in the eastern part of the state were victims of a half-dozen accidents, including the one June 18 that killed Trooper Doug Weddleton.
Col. Marian McGovern of the force came back to Northampton this month — where she began her career — to announce increased patrols and the use of checkpoints to catch people who are driving while drunk.
McGovern said the crackdown is being called Operation Lightning — as in the phenomenon that comes out of nowhere.
Meantime, state police are taking a fresh look at how troopers conduct traffic stops. McGovern said she believes those procedures are among the best in the country. But the string of crashes has her department looking for answers to a problem that, she acknowledged in Northampton, "we haven't come to grips with yet."
The stepped-up enforcement holds the potential to make the roads safer for us all. In July alone, the new patrols led to 27 drunken-driving arrests in western Massachusetts, state police say. That is more than two dozen people who were stopped before they could hurt a trooper, a teacher, a student or the person who brought this newspaper to you.
Those who put travelers at risk are not just abusing alcohol and other drugs. They include people who think they can safely tap out a quick text message on their cell phones.
Recklessness comes in many forms today; arrogance is one of the most common.
This isn't a hopeless cause. Police report that more and more travelers are honoring the "move over" law, giving police a larger margin of safety during traffic patrols that force them to work just feet away from tons of speeding glass and metal.
Unfortunately, the program to lasso in reckless drivers runs only through this summer. To cement gains in safety resulting from Operation Lightning, state police should consider a continuing, high-profile public education campaign.
People who drive while impaired deserve no leniency. State and local police officers should hold accountable anyone who puts personal convenience, or indulgence, over the rights of all of us to get where we're going.
— (Northampton) Daily Hampshire Gazette
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