Maryland transportation and state police officials are stepping up impaired-driving enforcement ahead of Labor Day weekend, as the state’s “100 Deadliest Days of Summer” campaign closes out a season that has already seen more than 3,500 suspected impaired drivers removed from the road.
Motor Vehicle Administrator Chrissy Nizer joined MDOT Secretary Katie Thomson, Maryland State Police Maj. Eric Corbin, and law enforcement and public health partners in Baltimore County on Aug. 25 to highlight the dangers of impaired driving as students return to school and Labor Day travel picks up. The period between Memorial Day and Labor Day is considered the “100 Deadliest Days of Summer,” and officials say nearly 800 people have died in Maryland impaired-driving crashes over the past five years. Last year alone, the week surrounding Labor Day saw nearly 150 impaired-driving-related crashes statewide, four of them fatal.
Enforcement has escalated steadily through the summer. At the campaign’s early-June kickoff, state troopers had removed just over 2,000 suspected impaired drivers, including 333 through the specialized SPIDRE unit, and issued about 1,600 citations to drivers going 30 mph or more over the limit, with 350 clocked above 100 mph. By this week’s update, those totals had grown to more than 3,500 impaired drivers removed statewide, 560 through SPIDRE, over 4,600 citations for 30+ mph over the limit, and nearly 700 drivers cited for exceeding 100 mph. Ahead of and during Labor Day weekend, 27 law enforcement agencies statewide will conduct additional high-visibility enforcement.
“Impaired driving is not a mistake. It is a choice, and it is a crime with consequences that extend beyond an arrest,” said Nizer, who also serves as Gov. Wes Moore’s Highway Safety Representative. Thomson said Maryland has seen roadway fatalities decline for two straight years but that “every single roadway death represents a loved one who won’t be returning home.” Maj. Corbin said impaired driving “continues to be one of the leading causes of crashes” state police investigate.
The event included a victim-impact address from Miguel Deleon, whose son Brandon was killed in an April 2023 crash near Marley Station Mall in Glen Burnie. According to court records, the driver who struck Brandon Deleon’s vehicle ran a red light that had already been red for 45 seconds; the driver, Pedro Balmore Baires-Beltran, had a prior 2011 DUI conviction and was already facing two separate pending drunk-driving cases at the time of the fatal crash. Baires-Beltran was later sentenced to 15 years in prison — above Maryland’s standard sentencing guidelines — after pleading guilty to negligent manslaughter and related charges.
Officials demonstrated standardized field sobriety tests, ignition interlock devices, and the Mobile Breath Alcohol Testing (MBAT) vehicle during the event. In addition to never driving impaired, MDOT is urging drivers to slow down, stay focused, buckle up, move over for vehicles with flashing lights, and watch for pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists. More information on the state’s road-safety efforts is available at ZeroDeathsMD.gov.
