More funds helping local Maryland agencies to keep their roadways, communities safe

MARYLAND- Saving lives is an initiative that’s not just a goal locally, but also across the state of Maryland; and with more than $13 million in federal and state highway safety funds agencies and organizations can continue this mission.

“We are a small part here, we just try to make sure roadways and pedestrian roadways are safe around campus,” Lieutenant and Field Operations Commander, at Salisbury University, Christopher Shockley said.

“The money is being allocated based on crash data per county, so my office we graciously received $6,300 and we want to be very fiscally responsibly with these funds,” Worcester County Sheriff Matt Crisafulli said.

Back in 2021, there were 562 traffic deaths on Maryland roadways including 131 pedestrians and 6 bicyclists. So what’s the contributing factors to these car fatalities? Police reports reveal speed, impairment, or improper seatbelt use. “Speeds always been one of the higher components of crashes and leading to fatalities,” Sheriff Crisafulli said.

Sheriff Crisafulli said social media is also to blame. “All it takes is two seconds, two seconds for your eyes to be off of that roadway and you could strike a pedestrian, you could rear end a vehicle, you can t-bone a vehicle and that’s where we see the increase fatalities,” Sheriff Crisafulli said.

Now, with this grant funding it can push out more traffic safety initiatives to lower these statistics.

“For example, we may be looking at on the ground enforcement, speeding enforcement , seatbelt safety enforcement to start to really tighten up and save lives through the on ground enforcement initiatives,” Sheriff Crisafulli said.

“Officers go out and do enforcement action, around the campus, roadways, crosswalks for cellphone violations,” Lt. Shockley said.

Worcester County Sheriff Crisafulli said they will also use these funds for prevention efforts, as well as awareness through social media platforms.

The Salisbury University Police Department will receive over a thousand dollars. So far, they’ve already received funding for this initiative and it’s paying off.
Statistics show its helping their agency push out more specific enforcement.