Last Sunday's Butler Eagle article "Plane used to nab speeders" no doubt is causing some Route 422 motorists to slow down during this Independence holiday week.

That's good.

Armed with a stop watch, state police troopers in a plane watch for vehicles driving much faster than the posted speed limit and other traffic.

Once such a vehicle is clocked, the airborne troopers notify police on the ground, telling them which vehicle to stop. Such stops usually result in fines ranging from $110 to $200.

But while the effort, part of a campaign dubbed Smooth Operator, is an excellent speed-enforcement option, some drivers wouldn't object if the campaign were expanded to include vehicles that pass them on the right on Butler roads such as Route 8 and Route 68 while they are slowing to make left-hand turns.

It is becoming increasingly common to see that pass-on-the-right maneuver on those two roads — while the vehicles being passed still are moving. Passing to the right around a stopped vehicle can be dangerous; the disregard for safety when the vehicle being passed on the right still is moving deserves a ticket and stiff fine.

One site of numerous flagrant maneuvers is Route 8 in front of the Clearview Mart flea market on the weekends. That there are not more accidents in the quarter-mile or so in that area is testimony to the cautious driving of people who visit the flea market — and luck.

It's the impatient pass-through traffic that heightens the danger.

Meanwhile, drivers turning left off of East Jefferson Street sometimes are startled by vehicles that speed by them on the right after they have turned on their left-turn signal and are slowing to allow opposing traffic to pass.

The state police and state Department of Transportation, both of which are involved with the Smooth Operator campaign, should periodically focus a watchful eye for such violations, as well as for motorists driving much faster than the posted speed limit.

Although it might seem new to this part of Pennsylvania, aerial observation of traffic and plane-based ticketing isn't a new concept. It has been used for decades in some places outside of this state.

It would be good if this enforcement tool would become a more frequent weapon on area roads — and not just for major holiday travel periods like the Fourth of July.

Law-abiding motorists need not feel concern about the possibility of being observed from the sky. Not so the aggressive, speeding drivers; when they see a police cruiser, it already is too late to undo the costly situation that they are about to encounter.

Celebrating the nation's independence should be a fun, safe and law-abiding experience. Unfortunately, there are those who always seem to be too much in a hurry and, in response to that, do not drive their vehicles responsibly.

The Smooth Operator campaign deserves motorists' support. While even those who observe the traffic laws can feel a tinge of sympathy for those drivers receiving a stiff fine for speeding as a result of aerial enforcement, that tinge doesn't last long when drivers and their passengers reflect on the lives that the aerial enforcement might be saving.

The trouble with aggressive drivers is that they put innocent people's lives a risk, not only their own.