Stop the Maryland Unsafe Driver

Posts Tagged ‘News’

VBF has the bad news that the Three Foot Passing and Following too close law was tabled in the House Transportation Committee by what was eventually an 11-10 vote. Someone who was there wrote:

via TheWashCycle.com:

StoptheMUD’s comment below: (By the way, please do visit “The Wash Cycle.”

(I’m a Republican and I believe in the Maryland three-foot bicycle safety rule. One wonders the real reason why a Republican in Virginia is keeping bicycling risks greater by ignoring the three foot rule. My experience driving in Virginia says to me that it is equally as dangerous as driving in Maryland and perhaps even more so.  The cry for the three-foot rule is a cry for driving safety as well. Like seat belt enforcement the three-foot rule is  a round-a-bout way to mitigate the carnage because driving safety is not a priority for individual residents of Maryland or Virginia. We’re using these laws to wake people up and give law enforcement some way to issue citations to the most egregiously unsafe among us.

Then we do have to stop and point out that states are asking for and getting special legislation to protect police officers on their traffic stops and those laws require drivers to move to another lane or slow down sharply as a courtesy to the officer. Fine. Extend the same courtesy to the rest of us and also encourage police and their families driving cars with police vanity plates to start obeying traffic laws.

Government is not doing well here. It sends confusing message, obfuscates debate, and only tends to do what garners a vote. Government can’t really help us. What is required is that every Virginian and ever Marylander make the choice to drive safely. Then government is out of the picture. Existing laws, it might be argued, already protect pedestrians and bicyclists.  If those laws are not working then we need to find out why, but first everyone needs to obey the traffic regulations and drive safely.

There is also the “Get Off the BUS option. States that are not considered “bicycle safety conscious” could be designated “Bicycle Unfriendly States.” Either get off that BUS and join us or we won’t bicycle in your state. You cannot ride where you do not feel safe. Maryland seems to be improving in that area but not Virginia.)

Baltimore County police are asking for help in locating a car and a suspect in one of two fatal hit-and-run accidents that occurred over the weekend.

Click through to the Baltimore Sun for the complete story, including a picture of a similar suspect vehicle:

via Baltimore Crime Beat: Police search for help in fatal hit-and-run – Baltimore crime news: Police, courts and police stories in the city and central Maryland – baltimoresun.com.

WESTMINSTER, Md. — Maryland State Police say a woman was killed when the vehicle she was driving hit an icy part of a roadway, slid down an embankment and hit a tree and a fence.

This is from the Feb 7th news at Delawareonline.com:

via Driver dies when car slides on icy Md. road | The News Journal | delawareonline.com.

Stay informed. We refer you to excellent articles we select from the best local sources regarding driving in our state.

Clicking through to the full articles is a must if we are all to understand the impact of unsafe driving to our state’s economy and to us.

Awareness of the dangers we create ourselves may help us all make driving safer.

Be aware. Know the truth. Become an example setter.

In the bus incident, police identified the victim as Cindy Feldstein, a secretary and public information officer for medical examiner David R. Fowler. Feldstein was in a crosswalk on Park Heights Avenue near Slade Avenue at about 5:30 p.m. Saturday when she was struck, police said. She was taken to Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore and pronounced dead.

via Baltimore Crime Beat: Medical examiner spokeswoman killed by MTA bus – Baltimore crime news: Police, courts and police stories in the city and central Maryland – baltimoresun.com.

After a season in which two Maryland football players were injured in separate campus motor scooter accidents, new football Coach Randy Edsall has said players are no longer allowed to ride them around campus, according to Maryland’s student newspaper.

via Terrapins Insider – Report: Maryland Coach Edsall bans motor scooters.

U.S. Marshals Service spokesman Tom Henman said, in April 2010, an arrest warrant was issued in Prince George County, Md., for the arrest of 37-year-old Kenneth Henry. Henman said Henry failed to appear for a court hearing involving narcotics.

via Maryland Man Arrested In Phoenix On Drug Charges – Phoenix News Story – KPHO Phoenix.

“It makes no sense to have weak laws in one state and stronger laws in a bordering state or to expect different levels of public safety, enforcement and protection every time you drive to another state,” said Judith Lee Stone, president of the Washington D.C.-based Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety.

via Other states better than Pa. for driving – North Penn Life – Montgomery News.

The change in law stemmed from research by Assistant Sheriff Major Joseph Montminy, who noticed that too many officers were subpoenaed for court only to find out the driver failed to appear. Major Montminy also noted many officers were in court on their scheduled days off, costing the agency thousands of dollars in overtime.

via Recent Change in Traffic Court Proceedings Has Roots in Chas. Co. – Southern Maryland Headline News.

(So this is the agency you can focus your rage on when you forget to do as the law says and have your license suspended. This law is going to backfire big time. Just a prediction.

Remember if you want to challenge the citation YOU have to schedule the trial date. The state is no longer doing it.)

As a driver blew through the intersection, I pointed up at the sign for pedestrian crossing, to direct his attention to it. He actually did a U-turn and came back to yell at me.

via Pedestrians beware: Md. drivers don’t know the traffic laws – Baltimore Sun.

(An excellent citizen’s opinion of the Maryland driver. Check it out at the Baltimore Sun. The Sun is an excellent source for safe and unsafe driving news.)