Fatal car accidents in Md. increase

The Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) released its statistics for 2015 Tuesday. The results, fatal accidents are up.

According to numbers from the state, compared to 2014 there was a 35 percent increase in fatal accidents related to commercial vehicles in 2015.

Meanwhile, the amount of young driver involved in fatalities went up between those years by 26 percent.

When 47 ABC asked what this increase meant, state officials responded by saying it means that Maryland is not exempt from what they called a “nationwide epidemic”.

However, they say the state is not sitting idly by.

To reduce congestion and improve safety on the roads Gov. Larry Hogan (R) allocated nearly $2 billion in highway funds targeted to improve roadways.

Also, in an effort to cut down on distracted driving the state has introduced a new initiative called “It Can Wait*.

“We’re putting up signs to let people know where our rest areas are so that they can wait. Not check the text messages, not get on the phone, but wait till they hit a rest area where it’s safe for them to talk and or read their text messages,” said James Ports, deputy secretary for MDOT.

State officials say there are four E’s in highway safety.

Engineering, education, enforcement and emergency services.

They say by continuing to implement those strategies they hope to the number of fatal accidents will drop next year.

Officials tell us the number of fatal bicycle accidents also increased from *five*in *2014* to *ten* last year.