Encounters with wildlife increase with urbanization. Here’s how to live in harmony.

(Click on the image for Leslie Burger's advice in The Washington Post)

Encounters with wildlife are becoming more common in towns and neighborhoods as urbanization increases, and people often do not know what to do in these situations. Many species of urban wildlife, such as butterflies, bees, beetles, lizards, bats and most birds, are benign or even beneficial, helping to control mosquitoes, pollinate flowers and trees, recycle nutrients and provide many other hidden ecological services.
But there can also be some associated health concerns, as some species bring the risk of parasites or disease. For example, some snakes like rattlesnakes or copperheads can be venomous. Habitat loss to fragmentation, urbanization and expanding agricultural production means suburban and urban spaces will increasingly become options for wildlife searching for new homes. It is not just snakes, but also coyotes, foxes, raccoons, deer and even bears.

You Saw It Here First!

via GIPHY

Why Is Flying Safer than Driving?

Fort Washington blaze caused by charcoal

(Click on the image for Jennifer Ortiz's WTOP report)

"A fire that broke out Sunday in Fort Washington, Maryland, was caused by charcoal briquettes that were not properly disposed of, according to fire officials in Prince George's County.

The Prince George’s County Fire Department responded to the blaze on the 1300 block of Gun Powder Court shortly before noon.

No injuries were reported in the fire, but officials estimate $100,000 worth of damage to the home. Firefighters were able to successfully put out the fire and all occupants of the home were safe."

Jennifer's report has statistics and safety tips about charcoal fires.

21% of Maryland Motor Vehicle-Related Fatalities are Pedestrians

(Click on the image for the Smart Growth America fact sheet for Maryland)

The U.S. average is 14%

Survey finds 70% of drivers don’t think they’ll get pulled over while high

(Click on the image for Abigail Constantino's WTOP report)

"A new survey has found that nearly 15 million Americans have done this deed while on weed: Driving.
AAA found that 14.8 million drivers reported getting behind the wheel within one hour after using marijuana in the past 30 days. Moreover, nearly 70% think that it’s unlikely that they will get caught while driving high.
And this tendency falls along generational and gender lines, with 14% of millennials and 8% of men more likely to report getting behind the wheel one hour after using marijuana.
AAA Mid-Atlantic spokesman John B. Townsend said that the findings are scary. “It’s a recipe for disaster … It’s a recipe for a crash and potential fatality on the highway.”
Driving while high impairs your ability to think through a process, to drive safely and to even focus on driving, Townsend said."

AAA's  Traffic Safety Culture Index report is here.

Slow Down and Protect Our Students!

(Click on the image for a larger view)

Two Lanes to Accokeek

(Click on the image for Michael Graff's report)

Two young men, 20 and 18, facing north. Two straight lanes, clear and flat, inviting them into a very dark place.
They arrive at the stoplight at the Burger King just before 3 a.m. on Feb. 16, 2008, a white Ford Crown Victoria in the right lane, a green Mercury Grand Marquis in the left lane, music thumping from each. They’ve been at a party and go-go band practice. The driver in the Mercury is the group’s lead singer.
Let’s say Darren Bullock and Tavon Taylor race. Each will admit to it later; each will deny it later. But let’s say they start right here in the same spot, and let’s leave the video evidence and the eyewitness evidence and the skid marks and the cops and the state’s attorneys and the media attention out of it for a moment. Let’s just say they race because, quite simply, that’s what young men do here.
. . . Long, straight roads have drawn young men to race since the automobile was invented. Longtime southern Maryland residents say this part of the highway has been a popular racing strip for at least a half-century, back to when the road was only two lanes and girls wore ribbons in their hair and cheered for farm boys who competed in quarter-mile bursts. Kids here grow up listening to stories of their parents meeting at the races along Indian Head Highway. For decades, the crowds for the semi-organized yet illegal street races were nearly all white. In the past 20 years or so, they’ve become nearly all black gatherings of residents from lower Prince George’s County and western Charles County. No matter how the area ages or changes, racing on this road remains irresistible.

Best DIY Home Security Systems of 2019

(Click on the image for the Consumer Reports buying guide)

Among the top-rated systems were those by Nest, Ring, Abode, and Frontpoint.

Did You Ever Have a Close Call on Indian Head Highway?

(Click on the image for the video clip)

Driver thinks if had been using his phone he would have been killed.

More Washingtonians say drivers are bad than say the same of other road users

(Click on the image for Luz Lazo and Emily Guskin's Washington Post report)

• Nearly 6 in 10 Washington-area residents say drivers frequently violate traffic laws in the region
• Washington-area residents said they worry about a culture of speeding and reckless driving and other unsafe road behaviors. Distractions such as cellphones, among all road users, have made the streets more dangerous for everyone.
• ". . . many drivers appear to be unaware of the rules of the road, flying through stop signs or ignoring bans against right turns on red. A refresher driving course would be helpful, she said. But mostly, she said, people need to use the common sense."
• “That text message and that phone call is not that important. Driving is serious business. You can kill someone in the blink of an eye,”

Tribute to and Reminder of Lives Lost on MD 210

(Click on the image for Anjali Hemphill's Fox5 report)

The event dedicating the speed cameras to the loved ones who lost their lives on MD 210 was held at the deadliest spot on the deadliest highway in the DC Metro area.
Correcting Anjali's report, police have issued more that 9,000 citations on MD 210 this year alone. It is probably more than 10,000 by now.

5 Questions to Ask Before Getting a Home Security System

(Click on the image for The Wirecutter report)

 Ask yourself these questions before you buy anything:

1. How paranoid are you?
2. What are you looking to protect?
3. Can you install it yourself?
4. What else do you want the system to do?
5. How much are you willing to pay?

Juanita and Alexis Mejia Struggle for Strength to Face the Man Accused in DUI crash that killed their three young children

(Click on the image for Tracee Wilkins News4 report)

From John Domen's WTOP report:

• “It’s the hardest thing, apart from going through the pain of losing my beautiful babies,” said Juanita Mejia after the hearing. “Just the case itself — it’s another whole new different pain.”
• “The memory of my kids will forever be with us, and will give us that strength to continue to keep going and keep fighting,” she added. “And we will get through this, and I know we will.”
• Her husband, Alexis Mejia, vowed that “their legacy won’t be in vain.”

Many Have Not Yet Updated Their Computers and Are Asking for Big Trouble

(Click on the image for Ken Colburn's Data Doctors advice)

If you’re still running Windows XP or 7 — it’s imperative that you patch this hole immediately!

This problem could be used to install ransomware which is a big problem for Baltimore City.