From Maryland State Police:
More than 500 people die on Maryland roads every year. These are all family, friends and neighbors – not just statistics. Every person that dies is loss that is sudden, shocking, and unpredictable. Death and injury should not be an acceptable consequence of driving. It has never been for airlines, trains or ships. Why motor vehicles?
That’s why the Maryland State Police, Bel Air Barrack is working Toward Zero Deaths on Harford County’s roadways through policy, public health, education, enforcement and other efforts.
On September 14, 2012, Bel Air Troopers investigated the ninth fatal motor collision this year. While this is an improvement over 2011, when troopers had investigated 15 fatal motor vehicle collisions by this time, one is still too many. Most fatal collisions can be attributed to driver error. That includes speeding, which is one of the most dangerous problems on our roads today – a factor in an estimated one-third of all crashes, injuries, and fatalities in Maryland.
Lt. Michael Wann, Commander of the Bel Air State Police Barrack, reminds everyone that “seatbelts are your best defense against unsafe drivers and the single most important step you can take to save your life in the event of a crash. Buckle up, every time, every trip.” Troopers have been working in coordination with the Aberdeen Police Department, Bel Air Town Police, Harford County Sheriff’s Department, and the Havre de Grace Police Department to combat speeding and aggressive driving. This week troopers will focus on MD Route 22 from Bel Air to Churchville. Troopers will be strictly enforcing speed and aggressive driving violations.
– Lap and shoulder seat belts – when worn – lower the risk of death to passengers in the front seat by 45 percent. Seat belts also reduce the risk of moderate-to-critical injury by half.
– Teens aged 13 to 15 have a 67 percent risk of dying in crashes in which they aren’t wearing seat belts – the highest percentage of all age groups.
– Data shows that, among passengers aged 18 to 34 who have been killed in crashes, 63 percent were not buckled up.
Will says
Is this like No Child Left Behind?
policia says
so does this mean that the sheriff’s office doesn’t need to worry about the roads? I knew the state police would be the best law enforcement agency, in the county, because they know what they are doing. Can’t wait to get a trooper at the head of the HCSO. Then life will be good and we can reduce the number of deputies needed to patrol the roads.
James R. Davis says
Policia what is your point? This county needs more deputies not less. Go back to Mexico Policia and take your cousin familia with you.
voter says
James…..why don’t you just go away and stop this stupid talk about sending them back. Have you checked that the majority of them are americans…..just like yourself. You need to get a life! Stop being a racist.
policia says
I am an American citizen and how dare you discriminate against me. Not all people from south of the border are illegal. The state police do a better job then the county. You are just an ignorant person. The point was that the state puts out a press release to say that they are taking care of the harford county roads and that the sheriff’s office is not able to do that.
voter says
Just wait till Gahler gets in office and we can have all the state police policies for the county!
Mike Welsh says
Voter,
Give us some examples of policies that you think Mr. Gahler would change and what kind of change he would make.
voter says
He would put more deputies on the street instead of making up units that take them from police work. Stop letting the command staff be their own entity and make them accountable to the same rules and regulations. Bring in people who have a view of the total picture instead of just the county.
Physical Fitness says
What would they do with the fat cops that are so out of shape they couldnt chase suspect if they had too?
Mike Welsh says
Voter,
That sounds reasonable. Which units could be done away with since they are not involved with police work?
Voter says
I would get rid of community policing and research. I would also get rid of unnecessary positions at the DC.
Truth says
Thi si just another excuse to raise revenue for the cash strapped State of MD. No enforcement in the world is going to stop highway deaths. In this area, it is a combination of bad traffic laws, speeds set for political reasons instead of for safety, poor driver education programs and training, roads that are unsafe for the overloaded volumns of traffic, poorly designed intersections and short timed signals to generate red light camera revenue. As an example, you want to know why traffic deaths are up this year? Answer—a very warm winter with no snow. It’s a pattern experienced all over the Country, but the police here would have you believe that people in Harford County are suddenly a reckless bunch. Winters historically have very low traffic deaths because ice and snow keep drivers at a crawl and while accidents may go up, typically, there are no fatalities. No snow equals 3 months of higher fatality possibilities.
I would much rather have the police focus attention in my neighborhood to deal with the vandalism, crime, drugs and other criminal activity. But you know what, there is no $$$$$$$$ to be gained in this type of police work. We had three break-ins a few weeks ago, while the trooper sat literally 1/4 of a mile away wrting stop sign violation tickets. Gee, maybe if he had actually driven through the neighborhood, the crooks would have went elsewhere.
voter says
Just stay on the job for ten years and you get an automatic pay raise for being a deputy. How can another county worker get that deal? Seems like these deputies don’t want to become supervisors, but will get a raise for sitting in their patrol car and drinking coffee. Then one day there is a six percent raise in their checks.
haha says
You people are a joke.
BBC says
Isn’t there already an initiative called “100 or Under”? If I’m not mistaken, that was to lower the number of auto deaths as well. Do they just keep recycling the same old program under a different name?
Moneyman says
You need a catchy slogan to support the work of the MD revenue agents. It is all about the money, not traffic safety. Example: A kid makes a dumb mistake at a statisticaly dangerous intersection and has an ACCIDENT that kills another motorist on Rt 22. There is no police revenue generating prevention program in the world that would have stopped that from happenning. The only thing that would have stopped that would be if they didn’t allow left turns in and out of that already dangerous driveway.
And what is the police reaction? Trooper sitting on Econ Drive writing speeding tickets to cars coming down a steep hill towards Rt 22 in an area that doesn’t have a speeding problem or a history of accidents. Obviously that enforecement has nothing to do with anything. That’s the revenue raising response. The safety response would be to challange SHA to make the intersection safer AND to have the Trooper sit at the accidnet driveway entrance where maybe people would be more observant. The Trooper could also chat with people in the parking lot about safer methods of ingress and egressfrom the property. Of course there is no money in that type of response, but those conversations just might save lives with young drivers.