Hide It. Lock It. Keep It.

 From COPS Office Green:

Just as a reminder, take all of the items you value (wallets, bags, money, electronics, etc.) out of your vehicles and be sure to LOCK your car doors.

Don't Let this be Your Picture!

(Click on the image for  Chris Gordon's News4 report)

From News4 on September 25, 2019:

The drunken driver who crashed into a family's car after Christmas and killed three young children is set to spend two decades in prison. 

Thomas Hawks was sentenced Thursday to 22 years for the Dec. 30, 2018 crash that killed 5-year-old twins Alexander and Rosalie Mejia and their 1-year-old brother, Isaac. Their mother was seriously hurt. 

After Hawks serves his sentence, he's set to be on probation for five years. 

Fox5DC video of a February, 2019 DUI stop in Accokeek is here.

MD 210 Traffic Safety Conference Call

Interested? Dial in tonight, Sep 21, at 7 PM.

Make Streets Safer for Everyone!

(Click on the image for Meredith Tomason's opinion in The Washington Post)

"My life changed on a perfectly sunny October morning in 2018 when my mother stepped out to buy a hairbrush and never came back. She was struck by the driver of a pickup truck while crossing at 15th and H streets NW, with a new hairbrush in hand. For the past 23 months, I have carried the weight of these seemingly simple activities — stepping out for an errand and crossing the street to return from the store — and the emotional, physical and spiritual trauma that traffic violence has had on my family.

My mother’s death could have been prevented. There are engineering and legislative solutions that must be implemented to ensure that no other family experiences the grief and trauma that I have needlessly endured."

Note, this happened to Meredith Tomason's mother in D.C. but it could happen to any pedestrian on our highways too. In Meredith's words, "Fear should not be the feeling that comes to mind while walking our city streets, pandemic or otherwise."

Funeral home owner talks about the danger of unsafe driving

 

(Click on the image for the video)

Kim Briscoe-Tonic of of Briscoe-Tonic Funeral Home, P.A. and her team talk about the horrible behind the scenes of unsafe driving.

Just Slow Down!

 

(Click on the image for the video)

This could happen to speeders in our community.

Don't let it happen to you!

20% of Maryland Highway Fatalities Occurred in Prince George's

Our county has 15% of Maryland's population but 20% of its highway fatalities.

Montgomery County has 17% of Maryland's population but only 6% of its highway fatalities.

Why Don't Irresponsible Drivers Get the Message to Drive Responsibly?

 Borrowing from Robert J. Samuelson's last column in the Washington Post:

"people have a hard time changing their minds. Once their minds are made up, they are relatively impervious to argument, evidence and persuasion." . . . "People do change, but the catalyst is usually some traumatic event."

Let's hope the traumatic event does not involve another person.

Are You a Good Role Model?

 Children observe and absorb your behavior like a sponge. What kind of driver are you raising? 

District VII Crime Report: September 2-8, 2020

  Provided by Cpl. Stephen Rannacher, sdrannacher@co.pg.md.us, 240-507-8110

How to Fix Your Annoying Mask

(Click on the image for the Consumer Reports article)

• To help contain COVID-19, one of the most important things you can do is wear a mask. Especially when paired with physical distancing, wearing masks is “the single best way, short of a lockdown, to slow the spread of the virus,” says William Schaffner, M.D., a professor of medicine in the division of infectious diseases at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tenn.
• But small annoyances can discourage people from wearing masks, Schaffner says, even when they know they should. “These may seem like minor problems, but if the new normal is going to be mask wearing for months, then they need attention,” he says.
• The good news is that the things that may bug you about masks are mostly fixable. Even when they aren’t, there are steps you can take to minimize them. Here, we have some mask fixes for five common annoyances. 

Family Grieves for First Pedestrian of Three Killed on MD 210 in 2 Weeks

(Click on the image for Shomarii Stone's News4 report. His is the 2nd video.)

• On Aug. 22, 16-year-old Osadolar Omozee, of Woodbridge, Virginia, was struck by two cars near Palmer Road, about 4 miles south of the site where Friday's crash occurred. Omozee was rushed to a hospital, where he died, police said.
• His family is heartbroken by his death and doesn’t know why he would have been about 25 miles from home that night. “I’m very, very sad every minute,” his father told News4’s Shomari Stone.

MD 210 Intersection at Livingston Rd and Kerby Hill Rd Status

(Click on the image for the SHA status report)

• Crews have completed setting structural steel over MD 210 SB as of last week. Work will continue on bridge deck construction, so please be alert for temporary lane closures and/or lane shifts.
• Crews will continue with storm drain installation at Murray Hill Dr.
• Crews will continue construction of the median ramps and bridges at MD 210 & Kerby Hill/Livingston Rds. 
• Next week: Setting structural steel over MD 210 NB

Man Fatality Struck on MD 210

 From https://twitter.com/PGPDNEWS

[About 1 AM, Sep. 4] "We are on the scene of a fatal pedestrian collision in the 4900 block of Indian Head Highway Route 210 [near the D.C. line]. Prelim: officers responded to the scene and discovered a man who was struck by a car lying unresponsive in the roadway. He was pronounced dead on the scene."
"The driver of the striking vehicle remained on the scene and is cooperating with investigators."

Update from http://pgpolice.blogspot.com/

The Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Unit is working to determine the cause of a fatal pedestrian collision late Thursday night in Oxon Hill. The deceased pedestrian is 39-year-old Bashawn Gamble of Oxon Hill.
On September 3rd, at approximately 10:45 pm, patrol officers responded to the 4900 block of Indian Head Highway. On scene, they located Gamble suffering from critical injuries. He was pronounced dead a short time later at a hospital. The driver of the striking car remained on the scene and was not hurt.
The preliminary investigation revealed the striking car was heading northbound on Indian Head Highway when it struck Gamble. Preliminarily, it appears Gamble was attempting to cross the roadway midblock.
Anyone with information on this case is asked to call the Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Unit at 301-731-4422. Callers wishing to remain anonymous may call Crime Solvers at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477), or go online at www.pgcrimesolvers.com, or use the “P3 Tips” mobile app search “P3 Tips” in the Apple Store or Google Play to download the app onto your mobile device

Woman Fatally Struck on One of DC Area's Deadliest Highways

(Click on the image for the PGPD blog post)

 Carissa DiMargo's News4 report:

A woman was fatally struck by a vehicle Monday night on Indian Head Highway in Maryland, a route known in the region for a number of deadly crashes.
The victim's name hasn't been released yet. Authorities said Prince George’s County Police responded about 10:40 p.m. to a crash involving a pedestrian in the southbound lanes of Indian Head Highway between Livingston Road and Bald Eagle Road.
The woman was pronounced dead on the scene.
The driver of the striking car remained at the site of the crash.
It wasn't immediately known what lead up to the crash. Authorities are investigating. Indian Head Highway was closed in the area in the wake of the crash but has since reopened.
The woman's death comes just over a week after a rising highschool junior from Northern Virginia was struck by two cars while he was walking on Indian Head Highway. He was rushed to a hospital, where he died. The teen's family wasn't sure why he was about 25 miles away from home at the time and said they were desperate for answers in the case.
Dozens of people have been killed in crashes on Indian Head Highway over the past decade. Memorials to to those lost, bearing crosses and flowers, dot the road’s shoulder.
This summer, records provided to News4 showed that police issued more than 5,000 citations for speeding on the highway within just one month. [the number cited does not include officer issued citations, only speed camera violations]  One driver was clocked in at driving 143 mph. Hundreds of those caught speeding were repeat offenders.

John Townsend, AAA, tally's 5 tragic fatalities on MD 210 this year.