(PIKESVILLE, Md.) —As St. Patrick’s Day approaches on March 17, Maryland State Police are urging those who plan to celebrate with alcohol to be safe and smart and avoid impaired and distracted driving.
With an increase in impaired drivers expected throughout the state this weekend, state police will be conducting saturation patrols at each of the 23 barracks focusing on impaired, aggressive and distracted driving. Enforcement this weekend will be bolstered by impaired driving saturation patrol funds from the Maryland Department of Transportation’s Highway Safety Office.
Initiatives will include saturation patrols in areas known to have a higher number of DUI crashes or arrests and sobriety checkpoints, which are also conducted in locations where experience indicates they are most appropriate. Additional troopers will be assigned as needed. Last St. Patrick’s Day weekend, state police made 88 DUI arrests, 37 criminal arrests and 12 CDS arrests. Troopers also issued 888 speeding citations, 100 seat belt citations and 2,365 other citations.
The State Police Impaired Driving Reduction Effort Team, otherwise known as the SPIDRE team, will also be out in full force this weekend. From March 8 to 11 alone, the SPIDRE team made 17 DUI arrests. Since its inception in May 2013, the SPIDRE team has made 2,604 DUI arrests, 123 criminal arrests and 7,988 traffic stops while also issuing 17,709 citations and 3,852 warnings. The goal of the SPIDRE team is to focus on reducing alcohol related crashes in Maryland by targeting areas across the state with high crash rates involving impaired drivers.
Every year more than 160 lives are lost in Maryland in crashes involving impaired drivers and thousands more are injured according to the Maryland Department of Transportation. Make sure that if you drink, you don’t drive and if you drive, don’t drink this weekend.
If you are attending a St. Patrick’s Day gathering:
Designate your sober driver in advance and give that person your car keys.
If you’re planning on driving, avoid drinking.
Consider using public transportation, call a taxi or use a ride-share service if you don’t have a sober driver.
Don’t let a friend drive if you think they are impaired.
If you see someone who you believe is driving impaired, call police.
Always buckle up.
Don’t text, use a cellphone that is not hands-free or drive distracted.
If you are hosting a St. Patrick’s Day gathering:
Remember, you can be held liable if someone you served alcohol to ends up in an impaired-driving crash.
Serve plenty of food an non-alcoholic beverages
Ensure sober drivers or alternative modes of transportation are set up in advance for guest who are planning to drink alcoholic beverages.
Have contact information for local taxi companies readily available.
Take away the keys away from anyone who is thinking of driving impaired.
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
27 comments:
MSP never met a holiday they didn't see as an opportunity enhance revenue collection.
find someone willing to be a designated driver,pay them if necssary,but don't drink and drive it's too expensive.
Big money making opportunity
Truth is they publicize they will be out in force, but they take leave to party themselves. I have driven holiday week ends from Ocean City to Western Shore via Rt 50 and never seen a patrol car. This is when Maryland advises you will loose your license for a traffic violation.
Revenue enhancement officers on patrol. They never let a good holiday or event go to waste! Coming to a local bar or nightclub near you!!!!!
Hold on to your wallets!!!!!
Revenue enhancement in the same of safety. Remember it's for your own good! We are going to say we are protecting you white taking your hard earned money and property. Resist and you get a beating! You are guilty until they say otherwise! The road to hell is paved with good intentions!
They can spin this anyway you want, but the facts say otherwise.
If they have to work on a holiday, they are going to make the rest of us pay. Its their way.
Um, it’s “LOSE” your license. Loose is the word that describes your mother.
Awesome, lock all the DUI's up!
if a person has no more sense then to drink and drive drunk - putting their and others lives in harms way - IMO that person deserves the opportunity to pay into the Enhanced Revenue Collection Program offered by the MSP. Perhaps you feel dead is better, or a charge of manslaughter with prison time. Do you believe tax payers should foot the bill for asinine fools who choose to mangle or destroy or kill by drinking and driving? MSP are putting themselves in harms way by stopping drunks, to keep us safe. Also MSP do not enjoy dealing with the results of mangled or dead accident victims caused by drunken drivers.
or your bowels when you drink too much.
I bet you have done your fair share of drinking Hypocrite.
Why don't the traffic agents patrol schools ohhhh forgot they couldn't care less about children's safety.
Notice how you never see them pulling cars over in the COLD OR RAIN ? Adult Snowflakes.
10:05, DUI can now be defined with one drink. Remember buzzed driving is drunk driving. You are guilty until proven innocent. Might as well restart prohibition and close down all bars, restaurants, and nightclubs that serve alcohol. The revenue enhancement control officers will be on the lookout with dollar signs! I stay home and drink. I guess they will arrest you next for being drunk in a recliner operating a home entertainment system under the influence! Or maybe in your backyard enjoying a cold beer while having a cookout? Arrest me for operating a riding mower in my yard buzzed on a few beers?
1005
I agree. Lock them up. Even if nobody has been hurt and no property has been damaged (no crime, under Common Law). Lock them all up even if they smell like alcohol.
The United States of Israel is all about crime prevention. I can’t wait until there is a technology to read people’s minds. Then they can get locked up just for thinking about drinking and driving.
Only then will we all be perfectly safe. No crime. The government will protect us from criminals before they take action.
We don’t need no stinking Free Will.
12:38
They already have this technology now. They just haven't implemented it yet.
Like the movie minority report. Free speech is starting to become nonexistent due to hate speech and political correctness. Thought crimes are just around the corner.
12:25 you couldn't be more incorrect.
OMG people take the tin foil off of your damaged brains. Really who cares do not drink and drive. It is your right to get drunk as long as you do not risk harm to others. Simple no great revenue schemes or brain washing lol. Must be all the chicken crap you guys breathe on the good ole shore lol. Divorce you sister and get help.
12:08 PM: Not everyone is a drunk like you.
The same usual whiners have returned. I don't know how they were able to put down the bottle long enough to type. Cry on losers!
11:28, unless it's a cop, judge or politician getting pulled over for DUI. Then they just get a ride home.
Hahaha, true that!
They love the tax dollars they get from the bars, they love the tax dollars they get from the cabs, they love the money the county gets from it's liquor monopoly. They love the money they get from DUI fines, probation fees, from companies installing, maintaining and calibrating breathalyzers.
Just like cigarettes they want to tell you how "horrible" it is to justify the huge taxes, fees and fines, but it will never be bad enough to ban because they are getting so much money from it. Any politician who ever points out the hypocracy will be labeled soft on crime, or paid for by big tobacco and alcohol.
Yes DUI is bad and yes there is a point at which someone should be stopped removed from their vehicle and punished but I feel like we are doing more damage to our country with the way we handle DUI than the drunk drivers do themselves. If safety was the real concern these cops wouldn't come flying up on your back bumper tailgating you while they talk on their cell phones.
I bet you have done your fair share of 🍺🍺🍺🍺 and driving Hypocrite.
You people are crazy. 😁😁😁
Strong words for a "your not from around here - are you son?"
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