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Posts Tagged ‘Aggressive’
“Just before Thomas Johnson bridge to St. Marys county. 45mph zone that nobody sees or cares about. State and local boys set up shop on south bound shoulder just after curve in front of Navy Recreation Center. Have seen as many as eleven squad cars at once!”
(A VERY revealing insight into the mind of the Maryland Unsafe Driver:)
via Solomons Maryland Speed Traps | The National Speed Trap Exchange.
The NMA website has a sister site that lists popular locations of police radar enforcement. They call them speed traps. While I hate to use this language, the moron who left the above comment regarding frequent police presence on southbound Route 4 at the Navy Rec Center is too removed from reality to understand the reason for the 45 MPH speed limit at this location. The comment is telling about the mindset of the majority of drivers in our state. The mindless drivel of this contributor makes us wonder how the guy matured enough to even get a driver’s license.
As you enter Solomons, Maryland you must slow to 45 MPH. The Route 4 posted speed limit is 55 MPH but colloquially the speeds are 65 plus with a large percentage at well over 70. Drivers DO NOT slow down at the speed limit change. Drivers continue on as though no hazards and no populated community even exists.
As drivers pass the firehouse on Route 4 the jockeying for position at high speed begins. Drivers in the number one lane tighten up their distance from each other to prevent drivers from the number two lane from merging left. A merge is required to continue travel over the southbound lane of the Thomas Johnson Bridge into St. Mary’s County. Aggressive drivers in the number two lane are more than willing to change lanes quickly without signaling.
The aggressives ignore or hassle drivers traveling locally. Solomons is a local shopping and residential area. It is also the location of Southern Maryland’s largest senior community, a major Naval recreation community, and an extremely popular boating, fishing, and harbor location.
The idiot writing the description of the “speed trap” hasn’t put all of this together. The right turns, left turns, the boats being towed on trailers, the traffic forming up for the bridge, the presence of a major fire house, and the fact that Solomons is a major recreational and tourist location does not play into this moron’s way of thinking. Driving safety doesn’t apply only his desire to drive as he pleases regardless of everyone else.
The police are there because this stretch is a very dangerous location where few drivers obey the traffic regulations.
So is this guy your hero? He isn’t ours. At StoptheMUD we are happy that the police cite law breakers at this location. What might be as productive is citing the tailgaters and aggressive drivers that drive through here on an hourly basis.
You can watch the MUD on a state camera positioned on the St. Marys side of the bridge if you are curious.
How we think of traffic regulations needs to change. The regulations are there not because the state is trying to control the masses for no good reason. The traffic regulations and laws are there to remind drivers that if we all observe them we might LIVE to reach our destination. We would wager that a number of residents of the Solomons do CARE about the driving behaviors moving toward and off of the bridge. They might even wish the moron would take the long way around if he minds so much that he has to drive safely in their community.
Drivers faced a long slog through the darkness as slippery roads made the ride home dangerous and delayed those those who depend on public transit.
Michael Bolden aka/Dr. Gridlock wrote about yesterday’s commute home after our say long snow. Read it at the Washington Post:
via Dr. Gridlock – A rough commute home.
(I was in the mess driving from Solomons to Huntingtown. I witnessed a jerk tailgating a snow plow. Yes a snow plow. The plow was in the fast lane pushing dangerous snow off the road but the moron behind him has to aggressively show his impatience anyway. So what did the MUD do? He pulled his tiny car into the MIDDLE of highway 4 straddling the center line and stayed there. He cause a line of traffic in the slow lane to slow suddenly. As I did the sign of the cross, the plow turned left moving away from the MUD. The MUD drove on well above 50 miles and hour while the rest of us continued praying. The rest of the commute was not much better. Some of the worst driving I have seen – again. This included the “hero” in the big gray pick up truck less than a car length off my rear bumper on Plum Point Rd. I finally performed the PORK maneuver allowing him to speed off and hurt someone else besides me.
During the twenty-five mile trip home I never saw one police officer. Marylanders do not appear to be afraid of the consequences of unsafe driving. Sadly, most of us should get MUD in our stockings this year or Santa should just fly by and ignore Maryland.)
David Auble, 24, of Peach Bottom Township received traffic citations for violations such as speeding. He paid fines in Maryland, but the record of the crash never made it on his Pennsylvania driver’s license.
via Drivers cross state lines, leaving behind a record – The York Daily Record.
(There is something odd about this story. The first thing is that Pennsylvania motor vehicle folks COULD use the National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (NLETS) to query Maryland for a driving record before each renewal. The second is that many states ALREADY swap driving histories when an out-of-state driver receives a citation in another state.
My first question is why two ADJOINING states are not swapping driving records in 2010? It is unconscionable not to share records. Reckless aggressive drivers or drunks could continue driving in their home state with no penalty whatsoever.
In the article I read, “Rendell’s office and Rep. Richard Geist, R-Blair County told him that the only thing he could do was to work with the Maryland legislature toward harsher negligence laws for future cases of traffic fatalities.” That’s poppycock, spin, drivel, and walking away from the facts at hand. Maryland should be forwarding driving histories to other states when residents of those states misbehave here and VICE VERSA. Those other states MUST add those convictions to local records and hold the driver accountable in their state in ADDITION to any fines paid where the conviction took place.
Pennsylvania has a role to play here as well and should not be dancing around the problem or throwing it like a political football. Governor Rendell can initiate changes in Pennsylvania law and make contact with Maryland to do the same. Someone can start the ball rolling.
We encourage Mr. Kohl to make appointments in Annapolis and get the ball rolling here is Rendell’s office decides to sit on this issue. If there was ever a time not to take no for an answer this is the time.)
Until they are both back online, he said officers will patrol the area carefully and use laser speed guns to ensure motorists are obeying the law.
Read the story in the GaithersburgPatch:
via UPDATE: Speed Camera Torched Near QO High School – Gaithersburg, MD Patch.
(Absolutely the WRONG way to express displeasure with speed cameras. The perpetrator has cost the taxpayers $40K times two.
The statement above was a little humorous. I would hope that officers were patrolling the area effectively anyway looking for aggressive driving behavior or to ticket the drivers running the red. A red-light cam citation goes to the registered owner for payment and DOES NOT really hold the actual driver personally (only financially) accountable. In a perfect world these traps would be the exception and not the rule. )
For the past two years StopBigBrotherMD.org has been documenting the expansion of speed cameras in Maryland. Last year a bill sponsored championed by Governor O’Malley authorized the use of speed cameras in school zones and freeway work zones anywhere in the state. We argued that this new power would be abused, that it would diminish the legal rights of drivers, subject drivers to mass surveillance, and that it would be viewed as a cash cow by local governments and a way of taxing out of town drivers.
Read the ENTIRE article at StopBigBrotherMD.org:
(StoptheMUD.org (no affiliation) has mixed feelings. On the one hand, unsafe driving in Maryland is pandemic. Aggressive behavior is common. Few people stop at red lights and stop signs especially for right turns. Traffic deaths remain in the 500-600 range every year. Then on the other you have politicians that look more to traffic cams as revenue generators after having skipped education and traffic enforcement. Red light cams make enforcement less personal and that’s good for the politician because then the politician does not have to support the police and really tick off constituents.
There are way too many bad drivers but StoptheMUD believes the problem is best fixed by our citizens deciding to obey the law. There would be NO REASON for traffic cams if most of us drove safely and not the other way round. Our energy should be directed at changing behaviors that are killing people. )
Beginning this week, St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office will partner with Checkpoint Strikeforce to conduct sobriety checkpoints at undisclosed locations throughout St. Mary’s County. These Checkpoints are an effort to crack down on impaired drivers and those driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol. These enhanced enforcement efforts are part of Maryland’s Toward Zero Deaths goal for August, which focuses on eradicating fatalities caused by impaired drivers and other preventable traffic risks such aggressive driving, speeding and lack of seat belt use.
Sphere: Related ContentVernon Betkey, the Director of the Maryland Highway Safety Office said, “If we eliminated drunk driving on our highways, and also had 100 percent seatbelt usage, we would cut the amount of fatalities we have by one half.”
via WBIR.com | Knoxville, TN | Study: Drunk driving is on the rise.
(Perhaps if our own off-duty police set an example on our roads and if the police did not have to be arrest-and-book tax collectors the situation might also improve. A concerted effort to find and arrest aggressive drivers rather than run radar traps might also be effective. The seat belt argument is always the easiest one to drop in the media. Seat belt compliance might mitigate the carnage to some extent, but until Marylander’s decide to actually drive safely the proximate causes of injury accidents will not change. Oh and, DUI is not the only cause of fatal accidents. There is MORe to safe driving than wearing a seat belt and arresting drunk drivers. Those are just the two easiest things for politicians and bureacrats to talk about.))
Nellis’ plates had been expired for three months.
via Post Now – Md. mom jailed for expired license plates.
(I am reminded of my police training that discussed the spirit of the law versus the letter of the law. When police arrest for expired tags they are making a TAX LAW arrest. There is no traffic violation. An officer does this to make sure the scofflaw pays up but will this same officer arrest someone for aggressive driving or just issue a citation. These tax-collection arrests are an abuse of state power and should not be tolerated. Our police should be dealing with criminals, criminals that place our safety at risk. This includes the scofflaws driving personal vehicles with FOP and FP plates. )
Maryland State Police say aggressive driving can lead to road rage, and the number of accidents tied to aggressive driving jumped 63 percent in the state between 2004 and 2008. Also, the number of deaths blamed on aggressive driving increased 9% during the same time period.
via Police believe road rage may have led to murder – wtop.com.
(Maryland please read this article at WTOP. Aggressive driving is PANDEMIC in our state. The only one that can change it is YOU!)
OCEAN CITY – On the eve of one of the biggest travel weekends of the year, law enforcement officials from all over the shore this week officially kicked off the second phase of the “Summer Heat: From the Bay to the Beach in One Piece” program, an ambitious campaign to target aggressive drivers.
Read the ENTIRE story at MDCoastDispatch.com:
via Ocean City Maryland News – Friday, July 2–New Police Campaign Seeks To Curb Road Deaths.
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