Baltimore Police crackdown on reckless driving is overdue
Rare is the Baltimore commuter who has not had the jaw-dropping experience of seeing motor vehicles flashing by at speeds approaching triple digits or running through red lights or weaving through traffic like it was the final lap of the Daytona 500. That’s why it was heartening to hear Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley reveal last weekend on WBAL NewsRadio that he plans to soon step up traffic enforcement, arguing that it can make driving safer and should reduce “road rage” incidents that can escalate into shootings.
While shots fired over right-of-way disputes are, thankfully, not a regular event in Charm City, crashes caused by distracted, impaired and aggressive drivers are. And it is a problem hardly unique to the city. Statewide, Maryland last year recorded 606 fatalities from crashes with speed (162 deaths), distraction (219) and impairment (114) proving to be major factors. Baltimore’s 43 fatal crashes in 2023 is actually a significant drop from the 63 in 2020 but still well above the pre-pandemic number of crashes, 33, in 2018. And it’s also far behind the fatal crashes recorded in Prince George’s (120) and Baltimore (80) counties last year. Think that’s just because those subdivisions are more populous? Montgomery County, Maryland’s largest jurisdiction, saw 44 fatal crashes in 2023. Clearly, there’s a behavioral component, too.
Expanded use of speed cameras — as would be made possible in Baltimore County, under legislation pending before the Maryland General Assembly — would surely prove helpful in discouraging speeders. So would greater use of red light cameras at intersections prone to collisions. But digital solutions are just one piece of the puzzle. Commissioner Worley is correct that active enforcement by police patrols is essential.
Some in Baltimore City are rightfully worried that with expanded enforcement inevitably comes unequal enforcement. Will police return to the bad old days of pulling over far more male drivers of color than their white counterparts because they were judged “suspicious”? It’s a valid concern, given
the department’s history and recent traffic stop data. But the solution can’t be to suspend traffic enforcement entirely. That hurts everyone, including the city’s Black drivers, passengers and pedestrians. It’s better to monitor for bias and take action if warranted.
If anything, we’d like to see more police departments in Maryland and elsewhere commit to greater enforcement. Nationwide, there were 44,450 lives lost in traffic crashes in 2023, a 4% decline from the previous year but, still higher than pre-pandemic. That continues to make driving or riding as a passenger in a car the single most dangerous activity most Americans experience. For all the talk of a “crisis” on the nation’s southern border, the United Nations reported 686 deaths and disappearances in the region of the U.S.-Mexico border in 2022. That may make it the deadliest land crossing in the world, but that’s roughly 1.5% of U.S. traffic deaths for the same period or just slightly more than Maryland’s annual count. So which is the
more urgent public health crisis?
Meanwhile, we would continue to encourage the Maryland Department of Transportation and others to better educate drivers on the risks through advertising campaigns and the like. Cellphone use has, for example, contributed greatly to distracted driving, while legalized marijuana has no doubt put more at risk of impaired driving. Even reminders to buckle up one’s seatbelt are worthwhile. And it wouldn’t hurt all of us to keep the state’s “Crash Data Dashboard” on our list of websites to monitor. The numbers provide a stirring reminder of just how dangerous the roads (and sidewalks) can be. As for those who chafe at the prospect of getting pulled over, here’s a helpful tip: Don’t speed, run red lights, drive erratically or otherwise violate the rules of the road, and the chances are good that you won’t be targeted. Should everyone follow those instructions the chances are good Baltimore won’t need all that stepped-up police enforcement of traffic laws either.