U.S. gives Baltimore County grant for traffic safety ... for heavy trucks???
[B' Spokes: If Baltimore County did not have such a high pedestrian fatality rate and for better pedestrian safety they targeted both sides of the problem and not just j-walking pedestrians I might get more excited over this. But heavy trucks are only involved in 6.6% of Maryland's traffic fatalities, seems like a strange item to headline with.]
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from Getting There by Michael Dresser
The U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded the Baltimore County Police Department a $415,000 grant to bolster its traffic enforcement efforts -- especially those involving heavy trucks.
Among other things, the grant money will be used to buy 200 electronic ticketing machines for police cars in an effort to improve the efficiency of traffic stops -- getting officers back on the road more quickly to catch more violators.
The award was announced Monday at a news conference involving County Executive Kevin Kamenetz, police Chief Jim Johnson and Bill Bronrott, deputy administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
In addition to the electronic citation system, the money will be used to develop an education program for police and court officials on traffic enforcement for commercial vehicles such as trucks. Bronrott, a former Maryland delegate, said the money would be used to beef up enforcement in such areas as speeding, drunk driving, seat belt use and distracted driving.