Highway Patrol starts teen driver safety campaign

RALEIGH -- State troopers are focusing efforts this week on teen driver in Johnston County in a campaign to reduce the number of traffic crashes involving young drivers.

The patrol says the "Operation Drive to Live" campaign will run Monday through Friday between the hours of 6 a.m. and 5 p.m.

Troopers will enforce traffic laws at schools in Johnston County and conduct traffic safety education sessions at the county's high schools.

The patrol says that more than 500 teen drivers have been killed on the state's highways since 2004. Many of those collisions occurred while students were driving to and from high school and the patrol said speed was the leading cause of the wrecks.

Highway safety researchers say 25 teens have died in Johnston County wrecks since the beginning of 2006.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)