Harford County Focused on Traffic, Sheriff Says
Harford County has had more traffic fatalities than all but three jurisdictions in the state, including Baltimore City.
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About 200 people turned out for Sheriff Jesse Bane's town hall-style meeting for the Edgewood and Joppa areas on Saturday to get an update on the status of crime and traffic issues in the county.
One major area of concern for Bane and the county is traffic. Fatal accidents are on the rise in Harford County.
"We have the fourth highest number of fatalities in the state," Bane said.
This ranking is up from fifth the previous year.
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With deteriorating traffic statistics in the county, Bane said the sheriff's office is looking to employ Data Driven Approaches to Crime and Traffic Safety, also known as D-DACTS.
This approach to policing combines traffic and crime "hot spots" on a single map, directing law enforcement to focus heavily on the areas where these two elements overlap.
"We're going to focus on those areas to reduce the crime and to reduce the traffic crashes also," Bane said.
Last year, the sheriff's office, state police and the municipal police departments joined forces with a traffic task force to reduce crashes by focusing on areas with a high volume of crashes and traffic-related complaints, Monica Worrell, public information officer with the sheriff's office confirmed Tuesday.
"In a one-year period, it’s fair to say the task force has written more than 6,000 citations while trying to help educate Harford County drivers on how to drive more safely," Worrell said. "The goal is to educate."
From April 13, 2011 until April 13, 2012, the task force issued 6,810 citations and made 65 arrests through their work, which also included sobriety check points and seat belt check points throughout the county, according to Worrell.
"There isn't a single community that we would go into today that would not give us some kind of complaint about traffic in their community or traffic on the roads. It is a quality of life issue," Bane said during the meeting.
The turnout for the meeting was so big that the community room in the Harford County Sheriff's Office Southern Precinct was filled to its 100-person capacity as people continued to arrive.
In order to accommodate those in attendance, Bane gave the same presentation back-to-back, first in the packed community room and then in the roll call room in another part of the building.
Check Patch throughout the week for more topics covered at the sheriff's town hall meeting.
How important to you are issues of traffic safety in Harford County? Start the discussion by leaving a comment.
Brian Butler
9:44 am on Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Second try, for some reason my first attempt vanished. I am very sorry to hear about so many lives being loss. I live in Woodland Run and the speeding on Abingdon Road is alarming. This is from both cars and motorcycles. The sound of racing engines has affected our quality of life and I applaud Sheriff Bane for addressing this issue. I have seen a few police cars with radar but they are parked near the Giant. They should be on Peverley Road aimed at Abingdon Road.
Ed Jr.
12:29 pm on Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Citizens, go back to the prior election, and read. Jeff Gahler's mandate was more Deputies on the street which would have alleviated both crime and traffic issues. Jesse Bane's leadership style of "hope and change", constant whinning about lack of funds, and blame someone else has failed Harford County. In fact, it is clear, Bane has much in common with Barrack Obama. Both politicians have failed us at all levels.
Leon Burger
8:05 pm on Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Give me a break. More look at me talk. From the article, it appears the police knew there was/is a problem when the Sheriff was quoted as saying "We have the fourth highest number of fatalities in the state.” The reporter added the “ranking is up from fifth the previous year.” Didn’t happen overnight – not a surprise, then why is the Sheriff saying that the “sheriff's office is looking to employ Data Driven Approaches to Crime and Traffic Safety, also known as D-DACTS.” Looking to employ – what hogwash is this. Put cops where stuff happens, when your reports say it is happening. The Sheriff also said "We're going to focus on those areas to reduce the crime and to reduce the traffic crashes also.” We’re going to, what are you waiting for? What does “Also” mean. As an extra if we get time. This isn’t politics; this is doing what you’re paid to do. The right thing for the right reason, at the right time – NOW is when to do something, last year or the year before is when it should have started. As far as the tickets, my kids could write tickets. Is the Task Force working the areas, at the times, when this stuff happens or are they “going to” or are they “looking to” “educate” when the time is right.