An Odenton mother sick and tired of people speeding through her neighborhood and not stopping for the school bus took her concerns to social media. WMAR 2 News got results for this concerned mother.
"What if that was my child crossing the street or what if somebody hit them just because they didn’t take the extra two seconds to fully come to a stop," said Jen Smith.
Smith was at her wits end.
"What can I do to help protect my child or the other children in the neighborhood?"
Smith took to social media hoping law enforcement would do something
"Every morning I would just see all these cars leaving for work and they just don’t stop at the stop sign," said Smith.
WMAR 2 News heard Smith's concerns, and called The Anne Arundel County Police Department.
"My job as a traffic coordinator is to come out here, take some observations do some surveillance of the area , see what's going on and then come up with an enforcement plan," said Corporal Tom Middleton, Western District Traffic Coordinator with Anne Arundel County Police Department.
Within hours of that call the department had Middleton on the job.
"I think it’s incredible how fast they acted that I didn’t even take hours or days or weeks," Smith said.
Middleton ticketed four people Tuesday, less than two hours after he saw the issue.
"Every complaint is going to get addressed no matter if it's a big problem or a small problem," Middleton said.
"To see him out there and to actually watch him give out his first ticket I think is incredible," Smith told WMAR 2 News.
"We'll dedicate some unmarked cars like the one I have and add some high visibility with the officers out here just to make the community aware," MIddleton said.
"I sometimes can take care of it myself, sometimes I have to ask for the traffic safety section and utilize our motorcycles, our other unmarked vehicles. I actually deal with out traffic engineer probably three times a week because we have issues like this," said MIddleton.
Then it's up to police and state and county traffic engineers to decide what happens next.
"Having the police come by and really patrol this area kind of puts my crazy mom nerves at ease," said Smith.
Middleton and Smith will keep in touch about what's happening in her neighborhood and what permanent fix if any will be introduced in the neighborhood.
Anne Arundel County police urge anyone to report traffic issues to them by phone as social media sites aren't monitored 24 hours a day.
If you have concerns or stories you'd like help with, send them to storyideas@wmar.com.
