Through 5/24/2010 Calvert County crash and arrests:
DUI Arrests
· Total Number of DUI Arrests: 315 Under Age 21 DUI Arrests: 27
Total Number of Fatal Crashes: 3
· Motorcycle Involved Fatal Crashes: 3 Alcohol Involved Fatal Crashes: 1 Young Driver Involved Fatal Crashes: 1
General Updates:
· May is Motorcycle Safety Month. Each of Calvert County’s fatalities to date have involved a motorcycle. Please take an extra few seconds while driving, and watch for motorcyclists. If you ridea motorcycle, do your best to be seen on our roadways and ride smart and sober.
· Parents, if your high school graduate is staying in Ocean City in June, remind them that all graduates are eligible to attend free events and receive free bus pass wristbands during their stay. Free events include midnight bowling, windsurfing and tickets to Splash Mountain water park, and they must attend at least one event to get the free weeklong bus pass wristband. They should be getting information at school. Information is also at http://www.playitsafeoceancity.com/events.html
· Calvert County is participating in the Papa John’s “Click It” campaign. Go to http://www.pizzaforsafety.com/ before May 31st and fill out the quick traffic safety survey. All persons that take the survey are automatically entered for a contest to win free Papa John’s pizza for a year. If you’ve ordered Papa John's pizza in Calvert County over the last several weeks, you should have seen the Buckle Up safety message on the boxtopper.
· The “Impaired Driving Coalition” task force meeting will take place May 26th at the State Highway Administration’s Office of Maintenance training room at 7491 Connelly Drive in Hanover MD. The meeting begins at 10:00 a.m., Agenda items includes a discussion about upcoming DUI enforcement waves, social host issues and parties.
· Several “Car Control” Defensive Driver Clinics for teens have been scheduled for Calvert County teens. Advance registration is available at http://www.carcontrol.com/. Choose the Washington DC/Maryland link on the right side of the page. The next clinic has four separate sessions available, and takes place during the weekend of July 30th through August 1st, prior to the beginning of school marching band and sports programs. A teen can be on the latter part of their learner’s permit or have their provisional license. The teens (with their parent in the passenger seat) will be practicing different behind the wheel driving scenarios, several will include wet pavement conditions. A parent must attend with the teen.
· Maryland’s “Click It or Ticket Campaign” is under way. Maryland State Police Barrack “U” and the Calvert County Sheriff’s Office are increasing education and enforcement efforts during the month of May. Upcoming efforts include a focus on night time enforcement from May 28th through 31st, and motorists can expect local seat belt checkpoints to take place through June 6th. Seat belt surveys will be conducted in early June in several County locations to determine Calvert County’s seatbelt usage rates. If your school or business has a message sign, please consider putting up a Click It or Ticket message.
· The Calvert County Sheriff’s Office submitted a grant request for supplemental funding to direct extra efforts to several priority impaired driving crash locations during the month of August. They should receive a decision by the end of May.
· The first Aggressive Driving enforcement wave for the Smooth Operator campaign begins the week of June 6th. This year’s focus will be directed to reducing speeds, and Calvert will also direct enforcement to areas that have seen an increase in motorcycle-involved crashes.
· Congratulations to the Calvert County Sheriff’s Office and Maryland State Police Barrack “U”. Both recently received Law Enforcement Challenge awards for the 2009 calendar year.
· Parents of teen drivers with their learner’s permits have a new resource: http://www.critical60.org/. Maryland Law requires that a young driver on their learner’s permit be supervised by an adult for sixty hours before they can earn a provisional license. This is a critical time for helping the new driver to learn to drive well. In the past, parents have expressed concern that they don’t know how to teach, or that they will make a mistake – and they also feel they are not up to date on new techniques, or how to determine if their teen has actually learned it. Two options are available for interested parents. A FREE structured set of “Critical 60” learner’s plans help parents stay structured through the process while working on specific skills, and/or parents can also take a six hour class which guides them through the process. If you are interested, you’ll need to register as a user on the website to have access to the free learner’s plans. You do not have to take the class, which is only available at Howard County Community College right now and costs $40.00.
· Many of you are aware of the Southern Maryland DriveCam program, which was initiated locally as a pilot project to see if the DriveCam system helped parents work with their teen drivers. We are still waiting for the study and evaluation to be completed. In the interim, we have directed FY’10 funding to incorporate DriveCam videos into the Critical 60 program, and have funded professional development of PSA’s for parents.
Debbie Jennings, Coordinator
Calvert County Traffic Safety Council
210 Main Street
Prince Frederick, Maryland 20678
410 535-2200
