WASHINGTON — Maryland law enforcement leaders are urging state lawmakers to expand the use of ignition interlock requirements to help stop drunken driving.
They joined police officers on Wednesday who have been injured by drunk drivers to push a group of bills.
A measure before lawmakers would require all drunken drivers with blood alcohol contents of 0.08 or greater to have the ignition interlock devices. State law now requires them for those with a BAC of 0.15, nearly twice the legal limit for driving.
The bill is being called “Noah’s Law” because of the December death of Officer Noah Leotta. He was killed while working on a driving-under-the-influence assignment by a suspected drunken driver with two previous convictions.
“In the last three years, I’ve had 49 of my cops in Montgomery County alone hit by drunk drivers,” said Montgomery County Police Chief Tom Manger.
“The saddest thing about DUI collisions is that they’re 100 percent avoidable,” added La Plata Police Chief Carl Schinner.
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20 comments:
Nazi America
What the hell are they pushing for more laws , they don't enforce laws any more.
It is not having laws on the books, it is actively applying the laws that work.
Allowing them to continue to drive, really? How about a year in jail, now that would be a deterrent. Yes sir, first offense, a year in the can, lose your job, house, wife, kids. That is how you toughen up a law.
They don't care about safety it's your money they want from fines...Just look at all of the new 25 mph zones which are on every street now in Salisbury and Fruitland. The Fruitland cops have nothing better to do than sit back and catch speeders flying by at 30 mph.
Kind of difficult to enforce when your outnumbered 8000 to 1
Do it like England, one conviction and you never get a license again.
I believe that the Montgomery County police chief needs to tell his officers to quit stepping out in front of drunk / impaired drivers and expecting them to stop. It is how most of those cops get hit. They think they can pull over a speeding car by jumping out in front of them and pointing for them to pull over to the side of the road. They think that finger can control a speeding 3000 lb car. Not when its an inattentive or impaired driver, it can't. Then they get hit. Duh!
9:25 move to England.
8:52 AM - Fruitland's 25 mph zones have existed for quite a while. As someone who lives on one of those 25 mph roads, I would like to request that you obey the speed limits. It is not about YOUR safety. It is about the safety of the pedestrians and the residents who live on these streets. That extra 5 mph (that will get you to your destination all of 15 seconds faster) could be the difference between effective and ineffective reaction times.
As dui offender I think it's a disgrace that it takes a Cop to die before anything changes .now the cops come out in force .All lives matter
49 cops hit in 3 years! Sounds like a "lack of training" problem, to me.
10:32 AM Is the high tax city of Fruitland too cheap and reckless to build a damn sidewalk with all the money they bilk from speeders flying by at 30 mph ? It's bad enough they have speed cameras in school zones even when schools are closed. But this isn't about safety it's scheme to steal peoples money.
JOE ...could you please post HB 218. It concerned "Knowledge of previous offenses." I REALLY want to pursue that bill and help in any way that I am able. Thank you.
1:36 PM - You really have no idea how many people are pulled over for speeding in Fruitland and what the City's revenues from the fines are, do you? You are probably also clueless as to the cost of sidewalk construction.
Besides, if you're traveling at 30 mph in a 25 mph zone, you're speeding. Get over it.
Lastly, if you have seen some of the close calls (including people going well over 30 mph) you would realize that this IS about safety.
Please follow the posted speed limit when driving in my neighborhood. Thank you.
if a cop jumps out in front of a car, speeding or otherwise, he should be charged with jaywalking
But the legislature, and O'Malley, were happy to make it much more likely that a drugged driver was behind the wheel by 'decriminalizing' weed.
Fruitland's change to 25MPH on Camden is not of a civic nature at all. It's not even about the safety of school children, it's all about the money and control. There was no reason to change the speed limit the entire distance that's been done. There's no sane reason for that speed limit while school is out [summer time, hours before and after the coming & going rush period, holidays observed by the BOE...].
The elementary school has been within a stones throw from that former 35MPH road for decades and I can never in 60 years remember a child being hurt. For Fruitland to tell us that the change is in the vein of safety is an outright lie. There is more to it then that folks.
How many times are they going to that well?? They can't do ANYTHING else with all the problems we have??? How embarrassing! !!!
We can raise the tax on alcohol, about 50.00 dollars should do for now. Then keep raising it that same amount every year after that.
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