Drunk Driving Initiative Launching Through Perry Hall, Kingsville
The Maryland Highway Safety Office, Baltimore County Police Department and Maryland State Police plan to launch Project SOLO Friday night into Saturday.
Drunk drivers: consider yourselves warned.
Starting in White Marsh, police are planning an intense all-nighter Friday into Saturday, directly through Perry Hall and Kingsville.
Project SOLO, which stands for "Saving Our Loved Ones," is a joint effort of the Maryland Highway Safety Office, Baltimore County Police Department and Maryland State Police.
Between 8 p.m. on Oct. 26 and 4 a.m. on Oct. 27, 15 county and state law enforcement vehicles will be stationed along the seven-mile stretch of Belair Road, between the Baltimore City line and the Harford County line, according to the press release from the Maryland Highway Safety Office.
Each of the targeted areas have been "identified as high profile for impaired driving arrests and alcohol related crashes," according to the release.
Project SOLO will launch from the White Marsh police precinct on Perry Hall Boulevard at 8 p.m., where Maryland families of drunk driving victims are expected to speak about the importance of traffic enforcement. Between 9 p.m. and 4 a.m., officers will disperse to their various locations and begin administering sobriety tests to suspicious drivers. Officials stated they anticipate several arrests.
"This kind of saturation patrol is a great way to attack the problem," said Baltimore County Officer James French, who is participating in the initiative.
"A lot of residents are being warned about Hurricane Sandy, and we have another warning. If you choose to drive while impaired, you will be arrested," French added.
Are you concerned about drunk driving along Belair Road? Do you feel like police initiatives like this one are effective? Tell us your thoughts in the comments.
Baba Booey
1:11 pm on Friday, October 26, 2012
Between 8 p.m. on Oct. 27 and 4 a.m. on Oct. 28
So is it Friday night into Saturday morning or Saturday night into Sunday morning?
Tim
1:38 pm on Friday, October 26, 2012
I think Emily should leave it like this. Is it Friday night? Saturday night?
Hmmm
Honestly, unless its a checkpoint, you won't get pulled over unless you drive poorly, so I mean...
Baba Booey
1:55 pm on Friday, October 26, 2012
Oh sorry Tim, I thought it was one of the first priorities of journalism to present accurate, correct information that is not contradictory.
But I guess the fear of the Drunk Driving Boogeymen should outweigh everything else.
Tim
11:21 pm on Friday, October 26, 2012
You have nothing to fear if you're driving safely, and not drunk, now do you?
tudey
1:28 pm on Friday, October 26, 2012
Great job giving us all a leg up on the Man, so we can plan our weekend drunk driving accordingly!
Emily Kimball
1:50 pm on Friday, October 26, 2012
Apologies, we have corrected the date, it's Oct. 26-27.
FIFA_archived
2:09 pm on Friday, October 26, 2012
This is a feel good exercise I believe. If you want to stop drinking and driving, you must put an officer in every shopping center with a bar or across the street from every tavern on Belair Road. Arrest the wobbly driver in the parking lots leaving the bar as soon as they start their car and before they get away.
Now, you might not ever get another donation to the FOP from these bar owners but it will garner a lot of arrests.
As only Evets could say, if we had better bus service maybe less people would drive.
Evets
6:52 pm on Friday, October 26, 2012
Darn, you beat me to it.
FIFA_archived
6:54 pm on Friday, October 26, 2012
<[;-))
Evets
7:01 pm on Friday, October 26, 2012
If you want to catch people who are drinking and driving, the police need to be out there after a Ravens' game, when people are leaving parties after watching the game.
FIFA_archived
7:05 pm on Friday, October 26, 2012
It is all about the attribution.
FIFA_archived
7:25 pm on Friday, October 26, 2012
Before the game the cops direct them into the parking lots, after the Ravens games , the police are everywhere directing the drunks out of the city and back to the suburbs.
Parkvillehoney
2:11 pm on Friday, October 26, 2012
I have no sorrow for a person that gets behind a wheel when drinking. Receiving a DUI is a very expensive deal. I would have 1 maybe 2 beers, eat something, then go home. If you drink to the point where you can't drive or can't stand straight, you deserve whatever consequences you receive. I just hope I am not in your path if you are on the road drunk. I also thank Baltimore County Police for trying to get drunk drivers off the road.
Born to be Free
2:39 pm on Friday, October 26, 2012
Thank goodness. Police doing something good for our streets. I have zero sympathy for people who get behind the wheel of the car. When I party and drink I don't drink until the next day when all the alcohol is out of my system. Everyone should do the same
Born to be Free
2:40 pm on Friday, October 26, 2012
* I meant "Drive until the next day" not drink
Evets
7:05 pm on Friday, October 26, 2012
Or don't drink the next day until all the driving is out of your system...
Ashley
3:18 pm on Friday, October 26, 2012
Hope they have a few in the stretch by Gunpowder between PH and Kingsville. Can't tell you how many drunks I used to see driving through there when I worked overnights. I think my favorite was the guy at 3am who got his car stuck on the median at Honeygo and Bel Air Rd. I still laugh when I think about him trying to blame his alignment while he fell over in the middle of his sobriety test.
Smith
3:40 pm on Friday, October 26, 2012
Maybe they should consider setting up post late on a Sunday evening in front of the Silver Spring/Bel Air Rd intersection. Maybe it will stop the car club of young kids from racing up and down the Rd all night and reving their engines while the working class is trying to sleep because lord knows the calls into the police station is not helping. It's not just the drunks making our roads unsafe....
Evets
6:57 pm on Friday, October 26, 2012
This occurs in the area of Joppa Road and Silver Spring as well. The little boys who who play with their cars that sound like turbo-charged sewing machines are so loud they can be heard several hundred feet off of Joppa Road.
PerryHallCrafter
4:07 pm on Friday, October 26, 2012
While I commend the county for taking this initiative, naming it after the cups that college kids drink out of and play beer pong with is a bit odd. I know what the real name is; I read the article, but I still find the name...unique.
Smith
9:58 pm on Friday, October 26, 2012
Evets, sounds like we're in the same area. It's sad. My husband and I have to choose between getting fresh air and listening to the loud cars racing or shutting the windows and getting sleep. We called the police twice last Sunday evening and it continued on all night.
Spring Heeled Jack
8:53 am on Saturday, October 27, 2012
So now... Harford Rd, Philadelphia Rd, Rt 40, and all the back road routes will be more dangerous, now that drunks are informed.
Spring Heeled Jack
8:53 am on Saturday, October 27, 2012
Sting operations never work when the public is informed prior to the sting.
Kim Ruark
9:41 am on Saturday, October 27, 2012
I thought it was named SOLO after the drinking song, Red Solo Cup...
Seriously though, It is frightening to think how careless we can become about such a serious, deadly risk. I thank God that I never hurt someone, including myself or my family.
Dottie Cordwell
10:49 am on Saturday, October 27, 2012
I agree, they should just do the stops and not let the public know in advance where they are planned.
JD1
2:01 pm on Saturday, October 27, 2012
Having worked behind a bar for 10+ years, I find it ironic that cops and firefighters are some of the worst DUI offenders and somehow seem to consistently escape prosecution...