Council voices road safety ideas and concerns

Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2008

At the Calvert County Traffic Safety Council meeting last week, county officials and concerned community members on the council brainstormed ideas to make the roadways and drivers safer.

Members discussed current programs that focus on inattentive and impaired drivers and young drivers as Debbie Jennings, coordinator of Calvert County Traffic Safety Council, solicited ideas from members such as how to reach a broader audience and enhance current programs.

The council also reviewed statistics that show a doubling of injuries resulting from aggressive driving. According to statistics, in 2006, 53 people in Calvert were injured in aggressive driving crashes and 106 injuries were reported in aggressive driving crashes in 2007. Aggressive driving has increased, said 1st Sgt. Todd Ireland, assistant patrol commander of the Calvert County Sheriff’s Office.

Ireland also spoke about monitoring Briscoes Turn Road in Owings, where a teenage brother and sister lost their lives in an accident last November. Ireland said he has ticketed drivers going around the median in the wrong direction to then turn north on Route 4, and others getting in the left lane and illegally shooting straight across to Route 4. The State Highway Administration has said that Briscoes Turn Road is not a place for a traffic light because of the grade in on Route 4, Ireland said.

Another issue on the agenda was the increase of DUI arrests, up 30 percent over last year at this time, according to recent county statistics.

Candice D’Agostino, coordinator of Calvert Alliance Against Substance Abuse, said she has been reading in news articles that an increase in drinking has been a national trend because of the downturn in the economy. ‘‘Since the economy is bad people tend to drink more and go to bars more,” D’Agostino said. Lt. Homer Rich, commander of the Maryland State Police Prince Frederick barrack, agreed that police are arresting more drivers who have been out drinking at bars or restaurants.

‘‘What are bar owners doing about it?” questioned Bob McWhirt, vice president of patient care at Calvert Memorial Hospital. Establishments need to be responsible for people leaving the building when it’s obvious they are unable to drive, McWhirt said.

Richard Hall, operations manager for Bob Hall LLC Distributors, said that his business has been working on a Designated Driver Program that involves establishments that serve alcohol. Hall said he is working with D’Agostino to initiate a program similar to the one used during the Tiki Bar opening weekend. Hall said he has three restaurants in Prince Frederick on board: Jasper’s American Grille, The Greene Turtle and Skore’s Grill.

‘‘It’s good for everyone. It’s doing good for themselves and others,” he said, but added he was frustrated with the low turnout at a recent meeting about the program.

The program gives patrons a wristband that identifies them as the designated driver and they sign a pledge stating that they will not drink alcoholic beverages, Hall said. They are then eligible for a drawing for gift cards or gas cards, he said.

McWhirt suggested using breathalyzers at establishments that serve alcohol, and have a ‘‘blow before you go” option so people can see their blood alcohol level.

There’s an education value in showing someone how much they drank and what their level might be, he said.

Jennings said there would be some liability issues with using breathalyzers because depending on when a person has their last drink, they may not get an accurate blood alcohol level reading.

A couple at the meeting spoke about starting up a taxi service by providing mini bus transportation from the Twin Beaches to Prince Frederick to help thwart the number of DUIs. The couple said they have not obtained funding for the business or a vehicle and they project a rider would pay $20 round trip. Jennings said the council is interested and invited them to come back when they are further along with the idea.

Three programs target young drivers, who accounted for 384 crashes (up 17 from 2006) in Calvert County and 240 injuries in 2007, according to statistics released at the meeting.

Jennings spoke about the new DriveCam program and the resistance she has seen from some teenagers and parents who filled out applications, but have not followed through with the program. Some parents may have been reluctant to install the camera in a car because they are a driver in the car as well, she said.

The DriveCam Program, initiated this summer, installs dashboard cameras in vehicles and only visually records a few seconds of the driver prior to an incident, such as a swerve or a hard brake.

Alive at 25, another young driver program that started in March, targets teenagers and teaches the responsibility of being behind the wheel, Ireland said.

The program has partnered with the College of Southern Maryland, and now offers the four-hour interactive course that’s not a lecture, Ireland said. The course is court ordered for some young drivers with motor vehicle violations, he added. Jennings said she is working with insurance companies to see if they would gives discounts to teens who take the course.

GDL (Graduated Driver’s License) Enforcement Effort Pilot Program is geared toward teenagers and makes them aware of the restrictions on their licenses and laws while using education and enforcement, Jennings said. Jennings said she was surprised that even after students were told several times that law enforcement would be in the school parking lots citing violations after school, they still found teens with violations.

‘‘We were sitting outside and still we had five the first day,” she said of an enforcement day at Calvert High School.

Calvert County’s Healthy Start program gave 58 child car seats away to parents and care givers this year who were not able to afford car seats, said Tammy Halterman, supervisor of health promotions at Calvert County Health Department. The county also provides a service that teaches how to install the car seats properly, she said. ‘‘There’s been a high percentage of [drivers] not installing the seats right at seat checks,” Halterman said. The sheriff’s office is the primary contact for car seat checks, she said.

According to county statistics and national averages, there is a 70 percent chance that people are installing car seats incorrectly, Jennings said. charvat@somdnews.com