Ask A Cop: Seat Belts, Traffic Stops, Traffic Circles and Police Station Relocations

Montgomery County Police Capt. Paul Starks answers question submitted by Patch readers through .

Ask your question by emailing editor Sonia Dasgupta at sonia@patch.com. We'll answer more next week.

Q: I know this month officers are doing a "Click It or Ticket" campaign, citing drivers who are not wearing seat belts. Are they also simultaneously giving tickets to people using hand-held cell phones while behind the wheel?

Starks: Yes, police can enforce more than one violation at a time.

Q: When a driver in Montgomery County is pulled over for speeding or another possible infraction, why—more often than not—do I see two police cars on the scene instead of just one? Of all the counties I've ever lived in, this is the only place I've ever seen that on a consistent basis. Is having two officers pull one driver over standard procedure? If so, why?

Starks: We staff each police cruiser with one officer. It could be for a variety reasons why more than one officer is on the scene, from training to officer safety. Also, if an male officer is pulling over a woman he may want a witness there and because we live in a diverse area, we work in another officer to provide language assistance—mostly Spanish, but it could be French or a language from Southeast Asia.

Q: I have a traffic circle question. Specifically, for Chevy Chase Circle. I understand that you yield to traffic when entering the circle. But, what about when leaving it? This circle has three lanes around it, and is stuck in the middle of Connecticut Avenue. So, the inside two lanes of Connecticut will probably want to enter the circle and then exit again, continuing on Connecticut (there are even white lane markers to this effect). But, sometimes a car in the outside lane will want to continue around the circle. Who has the right of way in this situation? Unlike the yield-on-entry rule for traffic circles, I've never seen a rule for exiting or crossing lanes once you are in the circle.

Starks: Incoming traffic is supposed to yield to traffic in the circle, but if you are trying to exit a circle you should be cautious. We want people to avoid being in a collision. The outside lane should be for exiting.

Q: I live in Rock Creek Springs apartments at the corner of Blair Mill Road & Eastern Avenue in Silver Spring. It seems people use our main driveway as a shortcut to head up Eastern Avenue and down Georgia Avenue to Northeast DC. I've asked the landlord if it's a private drive and he said it is ("Eastern Drive") but refuses to put up signs to that effect. Can you contact them and ask them to do so? the cut-throughs also create a problem with trucks coming through and hitting speed bumps and making thuds all day.

Starks: It’s up to the landlord. Police don’t have jurisdiction to enforce traffic laws on private property.

Q: I have a concern about the recent news concerning the impending relocation of the 3rd District Police Station from 801 Sligo Ave. With the increasing density of residential construction and business development in East Silver Spring, and the increasing crime, is it possible for the police station at 801 Sligo Ave. to be retained as a police substation to provide necessary protection and support closer to these increased business establishments and residential inhabitants?

Starks: There’s a whole squad assigned to the central business district—a team of officers in cruisers, on bike detail and on foot. There is a substation there on Georgia Avenue and it is within the Commercial Business District.

Questions and answers may be edited for space and formatting purposes.