Home Camera Hacking Alert

(Click on the image for the report, 14:30 in)

Click here for Gadi Schwartz's tips on how to protect yourself from security camera hackers.

Home Security

(Click on the image for the Washington Consumers' Checkbook report)

Because most burglars enter homes by simply opening unlocked doors or windows—or pushing and kicking locked ones until they open—even the most basic protective measures will improve your security. Several ways of shoring up your home are more effective—and much cheaper—than alarm systems: Secure all doors with good deadbolt locks; lock all windows accessible from the outside; set up lighting systems that deter burglars; and improve your own safety habits.
While an alarm system will also improve the security of your home, it may not be worth the price if— [see report]

Our Region Is a Long Way from Zero Traffic Fatalities

(Click on the image for the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board's report)

• In 2018 there were a total of 292 fatalities on the region’s highways.
• In 2018 there were  a total of 103 fatalities on Prince George's roads.
• 88 pedestrians were killed in crashes on the region's roads in 2018. 27 of them died in Prince George's.
• Remember those statistics are loved ones who died in crashes - don't be a statistic!

Friends Don't Let Friends Drive Drunk

Parents set a good example by driving sober.
And they come home safe!

Police Response Times May Halt New Subdivisions in Police Districts V & VII

(Click on the image for Tracee Wilkins' News4 report)

Per County Planning Bulletin No. 7-2019:

• Currently, the first nine months of 2019 data shows that Police Districts V and VII have  priority/emergency times that exceed the 10-minute emergency benchmark in every month.
• Eight months in District V and five months in District VII have exceeded the 10-minute benchmark by more than 20 percent.
• . . . "if the actual response times for emergency calls and/or non-emergency calls are greater than 20 percent above the required emergency response time, the applicant may not mitigate. The police district will be in a subdivision moratorium for residential development" and
• . . . “The Planning Board may not approve a preliminary plan of subdivision if it finds that adequate public facilities do not exist or are not programmed for the area within which the proposed subdivision is located.” 

See "Longer police response times could delay home building in Prince George’s" in the Dec 26 Washington Post.

Thief Looks for Clues Like This to Select a Home to Break-in

Thief thinks "Thanks for the tip!"

Suburbs try Vision Zero to protect walkers and cyclists on roads designed for vehicles

(Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post)

(Click on the image for Katherine Shaver's Washington Post report)

• In Montgomery County, where more people are killed in road accidents than in homicides*, planners recently asked residents to tweet about their experiences as pedestrians.
• They responded with photos of four-lane thoroughfares lacking sidewalks, bus stops with no nearby crosswalks, traffic whizzing past without buffers, and narrow sidewalks that end abruptly or are blocked by utility poles and overgrown bushes.
• “We’ve had highway plans for 60 to 70 years,” said Montgomery planner David Anspacher. “This is the first time we’re doing a pedestrian master plan, and it shows. The pedestrian conditions aren’t great in Montgomery County.”
• Advocates of Vision Zero point to the success of Fremont, Calif., where wide roads designed for higher speeds reflect its growth during the 1950s. The city implemented Vision Zero in 2015, and traffic fatalities and serious injuries fell by 50 percent, from 36 in 2015 to 17 last year, officials said.
• Matt Bomberg, a senior transportation engineer for Fremont, said the city added bike lanes, painted crosswalks with higher-visibility stripes and installed flashing crosswalk beacons. Repaved roads get re-striped with 10-foot-wide lanes, down from 12 to 14 feet wide. After the city replaced its street lighting, nighttime crashes dropped by 23 percent, he said.
• Bomberg said the city also started focusing on the high-speed arterial roads where the “vast majority” of its most serious crashes occur.
• “We started connecting the dots and found that 10 percent of our road network had 90 percent of the fatalities and 57 percent of the serious injuries,” Bomberg said.
• * The same is true in Prince George's County. See https://dviicac.blogspot.com/2019/07/traffic-fatalities.html