Area police officers were involved in hundreds of vehicular collisions last year that could have been avoided had the drivers adhered to traffic laws and basic roadway etiquette, according to official reports.
The Metropolitan Police Department has more than 1,500 vehicles in its fleet, and 237 times last fiscal year the drivers of those vehicles were involved in “preventable accidents” — a wreck that should never have happened. Department spokeswoman Gwendolyn Crump refused to provide the number of non-preventable crashes, but the figure was in the 600 range the year before.
So roughly one in two D.C. police vehicles wreck annually, though the department notes in documents provided to the D.C. Council that by “the nature of policing, MPD logs many more vehicle miles traveled than other agencies.”
“Given the way in which police officers are required to drive, given the stressors in the job, I’m amazed we don’t get into more wrecks, more serious wrecks,” said Kristopher Baumann, police union chairman.
Montgomery County police were involved in 385 total collisions in fiscal 2009, and 57 so far in 2010, but a department spokeswoman could not say how many were the fault of the officer. Montgomery police manage a fleet of 1,229 vehicles, putting the department’s vehicle-to-crash ratio at about 1 in 3.
For comparison, roughly 1 in 45 privately registered cars and trucks in Maryland and Virginia are involved in a wreck every year.
In fiscal 2009, according to D.C. statistics, District police employees sideswiped vehicles in parking lots, reversed into numerous “fixed objects,” and opened their doors into traffic. They passed and backed up without caution, failed to control speed to avoid colliding, made unsafe U-turns, followed too close, drove on sidewalks, changed lanes without caution, and ran red lights.
At least three failed to place their cars in park. One failed to “pay full time and attention” as he operated his Segway.
The traffic violations committed by police are “things we should all know better” not to do, said John Townsend, AAA Mid-Atlantic spokesman.
“These guys are sometimes the worst drivers out there,” Townsend said. “It’s almost like they’re teenagers — overconfident in their ability to drive. They take defensive driving courses, but they probably should take more of them.”
There were no fatalities involving D.C. police in fiscal 2009. But Councilman Phil Mendelson, public safety chairman, remains perplexed by the case of George Thomas Riggs, who was struck and killed by a police cruiser as he crossed Wisconsin Avenue on Sept. 24, 2007.
There were no fatalities involving D.C. police in fiscal 2009. But Councilman Phil Mendelson, public safety chairman, remains perplexed by the case of George Thomas Riggs, who was struck and killed by a police cruiser as he crossed Wisconsin Avenue on Sept. 24, 2007.
Riggs was on foot in a crosswalk, at a non-signalized intersection, but no charges were filed against the officer.
“I just keep reflecting on that accident and the fact that there was no charge,” Mendelson said. “I cannot believe that there was no charge.”
In the Riggs’ case, said Assistant Chief Patrick Burke, “it was determined the driver did not have enough reaction time to stop before colliding with the pedestrian.” The Riggs family is suing the city for $3.3 million. A pre-trial hearing is scheduled for April 1.
