ESSEX, Md. — Police in Baltimore County cracked down on motorists who failed to stop for pedestrians in crosswalks along Eastern Boulevard in Essex today where the posted speed limit is 35 miles per hour.
It’s all part of a national safety campaign called “Look Alive”, and last year, 66 people on foot died as a result of car accidents in the Baltimore region, alone.
“The average speed here would be at least 50-plus miles per hour through this roadway, and that’s a big factor when it comes to pedestrian safety,” said Ofc. Tyler Rivers who works with the department’s crash team, “When pedestrians and children are trying to cross the roadway in a crosswalk and those vehicles are going so fast sometimes those pedestrians can’t understand how fast that vehicle is going, their perception time and that relates to a lot of the crashes we have along the roadway.”
Last year, October was the worst month for pedestrian crashes with 169 of them, according to the Maryland Department of Transportation.
In addition to fines ranging up to $500, police also made a number of arrests for people driving on suspended to revoked licenses, as well as those with outstanding warrants.
