ST. MARY’S COUNTY, Md. – ONE THOUSAND, one hundred fifty-four. That’s how many traffic tickets have been written in our county in the last two weeks.
Week two of SLOW DOWN ST. MARY’S, a joint initiative between the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office, Maryland State Police, and the St. Mary’s County State’s Attorney’s Office continues – in an effort to change driver behavior and save lives.
The requests to enforce traffic laws in certain areas of the county are still on the rise. Please understand SLOW DOWN ST. MARY’S is a prolonged initiative so we know there’s still plenty of work to do. And we are committed.
THANK YOU ST. MARY’S for the overwhelming positive number of phone calls, emails, likes, shares and comments on social media. We appreciate them all.
Moving into week three, your Deputies and Troopers continue to work hard to get the message out.
Listed below are the reasons for the stops, weekly as well as grand totals (so far…) since SLOW DOWN ST. MARY’S began.
SPEEDING
Week One – 424
Week Two – 282
SCHOOL BUS (that one’s expensive)
Week One – ZERO 
Week Two – 1
CELL PHONE USE
Week One- 36
Week Two – 21
RUNNING RED LIGHT or STOP SIGN
Week One – 35
Week Two – 25
UNSAFE LANE CHANGE
Week One – 6
Week Two – 2
MOVE OVER LAW
Week One – 9
Week Two – 3
OTHER VIOLATIONS
Week One – 47
Week Two – 190
TOTAL TRAFFIC STOPS
Week One – 557
Week Two – 398
REPAIR ORDERS ISSUED
Week One – 30
Week Two – 17
WARNINGS WRITTEN
Week One – 124
Week Two – 77
TOTAL TICKETS
Week One – 630
Week Two – 517
GRAND TOTALS (So far…)
SPEEDING – 706
CELL PHONE USE – 57
RUNNING RED LIGHT or STOP SIGN – 60
UNSAFE LANE CHANGE – 8
MOVE OVER LAW – 12
SCHOOL BUS – 1
OTHER VIOLATIONS – 237
The tickets will continue to be forwarded to the St. Mary’s County State’s Attorney’s Office, who will hold the line in seeking fines and points for these violations.
In just two weeks –
964 traffic stops.
49 Repair Orders written.
206 warnings written.
1,154 tickets written.
Slow Down St. Mary’s. Save money. Save lives.
Outstanding. We were overdue for a “Back to the Basics” road warrrior law. Slow-down.
57 people caught using a cell phone over the course of two weeks? Pay me for eight hours on a business day, to just drive up and down 235, I guarantee I find more than 57 in one day.
Preach brother!!! Again, a little louder for those in the back…and those looking at their phones!
There’s too much technology out here to still get caught driving with your phone in your hand!!
The fact that the speeding tickets outweigh the cell phone usage show that our priorities are out of line.
The number of those I encounter using their cell phones dramatically exceeds those I encounter doing more than 10+ over the limit or driving aggressively.
Then you don’t get out much or drive anywhere
Literally everyone does 20+ over the posted speed limits here
Most people these days have a car that puts your phone on the car screen which is perfectly legal to use. Also, until they change the law so that cops are also prohibited from using their phone while driving, giving a cell phone ticket seems petty at best. Now, if they’re all over the road and clearly distracted that’s another story but imho speeding is the bigger problem around here. It’s not ‘literally everyone’ but it does feel like it most days. I’d be happy if they just stop the people flying up the shoulder in traffic. Is that too much to ask?
YAY… about time !!
Preach brother!!! Again, a little louder for those in the back…and those looking at their phones!
I don’t know where the tickets are being issued, I have yet to see any enforcement on buds Creek rd..
Speed cameras, speed cameras, speed cameras
How about tailgating? That is the worst.
I’m 70 so I drive cautiously wherever I go…..but with other traffic going 65 every day , you feel like their all saying , “Speed up or get out of my way”, especially coming up 235 in the afternoon. ” Where you rushing to?…..whatever it is, ain’t going nowhere, it will still be there when you get there. Slow Down St.Mary’s !
Either pay my bills or get out of my way to make it from JOB to JOB and taking care of a family and full house.