LEONARDTOWN, Md. — On Tuesday, Feb. 25, the Commissioners of St. Mary’s County approved a Highway Safety Grant for the 2026 fiscal year, worth $18,500, to cover overtime and fringe benefits for officers supporting highway safety initiatives. The focus areas will be distracted driving, impaired driving, and speed enforcement.
These focus areas align with broader statewide safety initiatives aimed at addressing the increasing prevalence of these driving issues. Between 2019 and 2023, distracted driving incidents increased an average of 30% nationwide, according to the Claims and Litigation Management Alliance, while drunk driving deaths have risen by 33% since 2019, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The grant will support continued law enforcement efforts to keep impaired drivers off the road. Since 2013, officers have pulled over 4,600 impaired drivers, according to the Maryland Highway Safety Office.
Checkpoints and saturation patrols will be part of the effort to target distracted and impaired drivers. A representative from the Sheriff’s Office noted that the legalization of marijuana has presented challenges for law enforcement, as there is no breathalyzer equivalent for marijuana to objectively determine impairment. Instead, the office relies on Drug Recognition Experts (DREs) to identify drivers under the influence of marijuana.
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your experts can’t be 100% this will not hold up in court, because if they piss test someone they cant tell if they smoked a week ago or 5 mins before driving, so your just paying the cops to still do nothing in the county except profile people. if thwey really want to get people sit in a bar parking lot and watch all the cars leave…you are all a joke. you can watch a drug dealers house and follow people after buying but cant follow people after buying drinks from a bar. like i said a JOKE
If I, average Joe, can see all the distracted drivers as I motor along…then surely law enforcement can see them as well. Light em’ up and let the citations fly!
there are reasons to go the speed limiit. The police don’ t tell you, the SAs office don’t tell you, the judges don’t tell you, the insurrance doesn’t tell you, but there is a reason to go the speed limit.
If I, average Joe, can see all the distracted drivers as I motor along…then surely law enforcement can see them as well. Light em’ up and let the citations fly!