The Maryland Department of Transportation held its annual Highway Safety Summit on Tuesday, convening safety leaders and stakeholders to discuss steps for Maryland’s Strategic Highway Safety Plan. The five-year program aims to eliminate traffic fatalities and serious injuries by 2030.
Maryland Department of Transportation Secretary Paul J. Wiedefeld, Maryland Department of State Police Superintendent Col. Roland L. Butler, Jr., Motor Vehicle Administrator Chrissy Nizer, and hundreds of highway safety advocates were present during the summit to discuss ways to promote highway safety.
“We need a collaborative approach that involves policy, awareness, enforcement and personal responsibility,” said Secretary Wiedefeld. “As a community, we must make responsible driving decisions and work together to provide safe transportation for everyone. Even one roadway death is unacceptable.”
Transportation officials cited four persistent causes of fatal crashes: speeding/aggressive driving, impairment by alcohol and/or drugs, distraction, and failure to use seat restraints. These preventable crashes resulted in the deaths of drivers, passengers, pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorcyclists.
According to preliminary data, 563 people died on Maryland roadways in 2022. Highway deaths came as a result of 532 fatal crashes and include 135 pedestrians and 11 bicyclists. The total number of deaths is the same number recorded in 2021. However, 2021 had fewer pedestrian deaths with 131 and fewer bicyclist fatalities with six.
The increase in pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities in Maryland in 2022 is a reminder to be aware of vulnerable travelers, a key element of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Safe System Approach. Drivers are reminded to look twice, especially for road users who may be harder to see. Pedestrians and bicyclists are reminded to wear bright colors, cross at marked crosswalks, and ride with traffic.
During the summit, state and federal transportation officials discussed ways to curb roadway tragedies by urging motorists to slow down, put the phone away, buckle up, drive sober, and always stay alert and exercise caution around pedestrians and bicyclists. They also unveiled a new Crash Fatality Dashboard, which puts comprehensive statewide crash data at the fingertips of the public and highway safety professionals.
The new Crash Fatality Dashboard was developed collaboratively between the Motor Vehicle Administration’s Highway Safety Office, the State Highway Administration, and Maryland State Police. The data is sourced from the Maryland State Police Automated Crash Reporting System and the Maryland State Police Data Warehouse.
“The work of our public safety partners is incredibly important to our combined mission of saving lives,” said Col. Butler. “With innovative approaches like the dashboard, we are able to identify areas for greater risk of fatalities based on specific driving behaviors. Using this information allows law enforcement to deploy additional resources where they are needed the most.”
The dashboard offers in-depth analysis of statewide fatal crash data, broken down by jurisdiction. A heatmap provides a visualization of overall crash data and all data subsets may be broken out by year, month, and jurisdiction. Previously, crash data on ZeroDeathsMD.gov/CrashData was manually updated on a monthly basis. The new dashboard will be updated daily. The dashboard also provides characteristics surrounding crashes, including weather conditions, lighting conditions, and non-motorist movement.
The emphasis area tab records fatalities that occurred in an intersection or work zone, as well as whether the vehicle left the roadway during the crash.
The Crash Fatality Dashboard FAQ is available for questions surrounding the crash dashboard. Maryland transportation officials hope that the new dashboard and continued collaboration between law enforcement and other stakeholders will help achieve their goal of zero fatalities and serious injuries on Maryland’s roadways by 2030.
