Monday, December 31, 2012
Maryland State Police will target areas where crashes, impaired driving arrests are the highest.
More state troopers will be on the roads now through New Year’s Day, part of an effort to reduce traffic deaths this time of year. Maryland State Police said in a statement Friday they would be targeting areas where crashes and impaired driving arrests are the highest. According to state police, there were six deaths on Maryland roads between Dec. 30, 2011 and Jan. 3, 2012. Police said two of those deaths involved impaired drivers. The additional patrols coincide with the Maryland Highway Safety Office initiative “Towards Zero Deaths” and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration initiative “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over.” Overtime costs for additional patrols was funded by grants from the Maryland Highway Safety Office, state …
Friday, December 28, 2012
AAA Mid-Atlantic offers tips for safe traveling during the holidays.
According to AAA Mid-Atlantic, New Year's Day consistently ranks among the deadliest days to be on the road due to alcohol-related traffic incidents. Statistics from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) back up that contention. To help reduce the number of drunk-driving and alcohol-related traffic deaths, AAA Mid-Atlantic offers the following safety tips for New Year's Eve and Day: NIAAA also debunks a few common myths about "sobering up". Myth: You can drive as long as you are not slurring your words or acting erratically. Fact: The coordination needed for driving is compromised long before the signs of intoxication …
Thursday, October 25, 2012
There will be extra state police patrols on Halloween.
Maryland State Police will be upping patrols from Oct. 26 through Oct. 31 to help make the Halloween holiday safer for drivers and pedestrians. Halloween is the second most dangerous day for pedestrians, according to the National Highway Safety Administration. “These patrols will be specifically looking for and removing dangerous and impaired drivers from the roadways to ensure everyone has a safe Halloween celebration,” State Police Col. Marcus L. Brown said. “Our goal is to keep children safe while they are trick-or-treating as well as to keep the motoring public safe while they are traveling to and from their celebrations.” Of all the highway fatalities during Halloween in 2010, 41 percent involved a driver with a blood alcohol …
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Area police chiefs to drunk drivers: We'll get you.
An Alexandria mother remembers a wonderful Christmas Day 2006 with her family. The next day she was beside a hospital bed where her youngest son "was struggling for his life." Greg Berry, 18, a senior at T.C. Williams High School had gone for a ride with a friend who was driving drunk. The car smashed into a telephone pole. Both men were extracted from the mangled car by the jaws of life. He had a broken leg, cuts and a severe brain injury that claimed his life April 19, 2007. "Greg died in my arms," his mother Polly said Friday through tears. Behind her, a phalanx of area police chiefs who promised to hunt down and arrest drunk drivers this Christmas season. Speaking at a Tysons Corner restaurant, they sent one message: If you drive drunk…
