Harford County, Maryland Police Create Traffic Safety Task Force in Wake of Several Fatal Auto Accidents

The Baltimore Sun reports that police agencies in Harford County, Md., have created a traffic safety task force — with the goal of reducing serious traffic accidents in the suburban and rural region. According to The Sun, 15 people were killed in 10 fatal car crashes in Harford County, Maryland, this year alone.

Harford County car accident injury lawyers work with injured people and grieving families, when serious auto accidents occur in Maryland. The region’s secondary and rural back roads — many of which weren’t designed for the volume of traffic they handle — can be dangerous for drivers. Add speeding and/or driving under the influence of alcohol to the mix, and it’s a recipe for disaster.

Representatives of county, state and municipal police forces gathered at the Harford County Sheriff’s Office Southern Precinct Station in Joppa, Maryland, this week to sign a document creating the Harford County Traffic Task Force. Participants noted that the most serious motor vehicle accidents in the county are due to speeding or drunk driving. Heavy traffic volume on narrow roadways is also a factor: A traffic study out of the county seat of Bel Air, Maryland notes that 40,000 people travel in one direction on Route 24 every day.

The Sun reports that the Harford County Traffic Task Force will explore ways to step up efforts to enforce speeding laws and curb other dangerous driving behaviors in the region. They also hope to mount public awareness campaigns, to encourage the region’s motorists to slow down and drive defensively.

Another Sun article published earlier in June stated that Harford County police were frustrated with the high traffic accident fatality rates — as they struggled to discern patterns in these serious Maryland auto accidents. Some of the fatal accidents were head-on collisions on single-lane, heavily travelled state highways. Pedestrian accidents also claimed a number of lives this year in Harford County, two inside the Aberdeen, Md. city limits.

A few days before the formation of the traffic safety task force was announced — a Harford County man was killed in a farming accident while driving a pickup truck on a private road in Darlington, Md. And one day after the task force announcement, another fatal Harford County traffic accident occurred: a motorcycle driver was killed in a crash with a Harford County Highway dump truck in Fallston, Maryland.

Related Maryland Injury Attorney Articles:

Which Maryland Traffic Safety Laws Save the Most Lives? (March 5, 2012)

University of Maryland Research : Pedestrians Wearing Headphones at Greater Risk for Traffic Accident Injury and Death (Feb. 15, 2012)

Sources:

Harford police agencies form traffic safety task force
BaltimoreSun.com > ExploreHarford.com June 26, 2012
High number of traffic fatalities exasperate police
BaltimoreSun.com > ExploreHarford.com June 7, 2012
Motorcyclist dies in dump truck crash
ABC2NEWS.com June 27, 2012
Farm accident kills 1 in Harford County
ABC2NEWS.com June 18, 2012
Related Web Resource:

Maryland Office of Traffic Safety

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