SCOHTS Roundtable Reports

Maryland

April 2008

  • Traffic fatalities decreased from 643 in 2004 to 614 in 2005, but rose again in 2006 to 652. Although fatalities over the past 5 years have fluctuated, the numbers of persons reported as killed or seriously injured (incapacitated) have steadily dropped – a nearly 30 percent reduction between 2001 and 2006. Preliminary fatality numbers for 2007 are encouraging – it is expected that there will be a reduction of 40 or more fatalities (6%) compared to 2006. It is apparent that Maryland’s five-year running average for traffic fatalities will decrease by at least 10 fatalities.
  • Motorcyclist fatalities continue to rise – reaching 95 in 2007 – which represents a doubling of rider fatalities over the past 5 years. Although these vehicles account for less that one-half of one percent of the state’s motor vehicle travel, they account for nearly 5 percent of its incapacitating injuries and 15 percent of its fatalities. Motorcyclists are 30 to 45 times more likely to be killed on a miles-traveled basis than occupants of other types of vehicles. Maryland participated in the national Motorcycle Travel Symposium held in Washington, DC last October to encourage all sectors to collect more complete and accurate information on the use of, and travel by, motorcycles
  • Preliminary data indicate that fatal, injury, and total crashes involving young drivers (those under 21 years of age) continue to decrease. Maryland continues to strengthen its Graduated Driver’s Licensing (GDL) Program. Legislation currently under consideration includes increasing the minimum ages at which a youth can obtain a learner’s permit, provisional license, and a full license; doubling the duration of the learner’s permit; lengthening the periods during which the passenger restraint requirements and the wireless communications device use, the young passenger, and the nighttime driving restrictions apply to provisional license holders; and increasing penalties for violations committed by young holders of provisional licenses.
  • Driver and pedestrian impairment continues to be a major contributor factor in traffic fatalities. NHTSA imputed that about 40 percent of Maryland traffic fatalities involve alcohol use.
  • Maryland completed a major update of its Strategic Highway Safety Plan and received federal concurrence with the process in the fall of 2006. The state now is engaged in implementing the highest priority strategies within the 14 emphasis areas/sub areas.
  • A 2nd Annual Highway Safety Summit was held in November 2007 to further develop local actions to implement the Strategic Highway Safety Plan. At the Summit, representatives of local governments grouped by regions shared information, selected the emphasis areas of highest priority to the region, and built on the progress made since the redevelopment of the SHSP in 2006. As a result, regions have begun to meet to address their priority issues and interest in developing local strategic plan and action plans consistent with the statewide SHSP is evident.
  • The State Highway Administration is working with universities, the National Studies Center, and a number of counties to develop a web-based, GIS-capable tool that will enable counties and municipalities to better access accident data, produce routine and ad hoc reports, identify high-crash locations, and perform other engineering related analyses. Impediments to moving forward with this effort include existing work on improving data entry, a pending revision of the data base to capture additional MMUUC elements, an immature GPS application, and the lack of roadway and traffic data on many local roads.
  • Maryland, which created the annual Chiefs’ Challenge as a competition among state and local law enforcement agencies to implement the most visible and effective seat belt enforcement campaigns, is expanding the Challenge to also incorporate impaired driving and aggressive driving program initiatives. As a seat belt program, it is credited with playing an important role in achieving the state’s 93 percent seat belt use rate in 2007. The expansion of the Challenge is expected to motivate law enforcement agencies to apply more innovative and dedicated efforts to impaired and aggressive driving programs.
  • A Task Force to Combat Driving under the Influence of Drugs and Alcohol was established by 2007 legislation. It is chaired by Maryland’s Governor’s Rep and its members represent all facets of the impaired driving issue, including law enforcement officials, the judiciary, prosecutors, defense attorneys, transportation officials, legislators, representatives of the hospitality and insurance industries and the general public, and safety advocates. The Task Force is charged with studying the impact of impaired driving and ultimately submitting impaired driving recommendations to the Governor and General Assembly. The Task Force recently finished collecting relevant data, hearing expert testimony, and reviewing research results associated with all aspects of impaired driving. It has begun drafting its findings and recommendations for a final report due in October 2008.
  • The state has installed shoulder rumble strips along approximately 700 miles of the some 3,100 miles of state-owned rural highways, mostly along freeways and expressways, and about 100 miles of center line rumble strips. The State Highway Administration (SHA) has dedicated funding to install about 750 miles of rumble strips, mostly on two-lane rural roads during each of the next three years. Additionally, SHA is continuing to pilot the installation of median cable barriers, which appear to be successful in reducing the likelihood that vehicles that encroach onto the median reach the opposing traffic.
  • With the exception of the funds that must be expended on railway-highway crossing safety improvements and the $1 million per year that is flexed into behavioral highway safety programs, the bulk of the federal Section 148, highway safety improvement program (HSIP), funds is committed to SHA’s safety and spot improvement and crash prevention programs. These programs are funded at nearly $50 million, annually, including about $15 million in federal Section 148 funds. Because of typical delays in expending funds committed to highway improvement projects, less than 20 percent of the Section 148 funds have been expended to date.
  • A substantial portion of the funds flexed into the behavioral safety programs is designated for use in speed and impaired driving enforcement activities that also help combat vehicles leaving the roadway and crashing.
  • Under SAFETEA-LU, Maryland has received some $20 million in federal behavioral safety funds (Sections 402, 405, 406, 408, 410, and 2010) from NHTSA. All but about $1 million has been expended by or is committed to reimbursable state and local safety projects.

For Information, contact Ron Lipps at or 410-787-4017