Police say having more officers on the road is reducing speed, saving lives Traffic fatalities are down by 73 percent on the Maryland side of the Capital Beltway this year, and Maryland State Police are taking the credit, saying stepped-up enforcement is saving lives.
Only three people have died so far this year on the Maryland portion of Interstate 495, whereas 11 lives were lost during the same period last year, state police spokeswoman Elena Russo said.
The decrease might be thanks to the state police’s Operation Centipede/Fatality Reduction Plan, in which officers are ramping up traffic enforcement on the deadliest stretch of the Beltway — the section in Prince George’s County between the College Park interchange and the Woodrow Wilson Bridge.
So far this year, Maryland State Police have issued 23,000 tickets on the Beltway in Prince George’s County. They issued 37,000 for all of last year. The stepped-up enforcement began in November 2009, Russo said.
Prince George’s County is the most dangerous for Beltway commuters because the highway is straighter and thus more inviting to speeders, AAA Mid-Atlantic spokesman John Townsend said.
He said an estimated 80 percent of drivers go faster than the highway’s allowed limit of 55 mph.
“The perception that nobody drives the speed limit is true. … A lot of people are fearful of being on the Beltway because they perceive it as hazardous to them,” he said. “You have to change the safety culture on the Beltway, and that’s what happening.”
Virginia’s side of I-495 also is seeing fewer deaths.
There has been one traffic fatality on the Beltway in Virginia so far this year, compared to four during the same period in 2009, Virginia State Police spokesman Danny Glick said.
Virginia has an extra 100 police on the Beltway every month thanks to HOT lane patrollers — officers needed to watch over construction areas with no shoulders. Glick said the increased police enforcement has probably helped slow the Beltway down and keep drivers safe.
“Throughout my career, in any part of the state, everywhere I’ve been, speed is really the factor [in fatal accidents]. In almost any crash, if you had been going slower, you would have had time to react,” he said.
