Faster, better…

When driving Anne Arundel County roads this Saturday afternoon we were annoyed by the usual high number of aggressive tail-gating morons that consider themselves immune from traffic laws. It doesn’t matter that you are going the speed limit and or a few miles an hour above it, you’re ruining their day so they are going to ruin yours.

Aggressive driving is pandemic in Maryland. We live with this everyday on every highway on every street. It is part of the culture here. Something that truly surprised me after moving to Maryland from California in 2001. Manners do not exist on Maryland’s roads. Safety is irrelevant. When people get into cars they consider themselves immortals.

What’s worse is the bizarre priority law enforcement places on radar enforcement. There were TWO police professionals in patrol cars running radar just before the traffic circle in Deale, MD this afternoon. Their position there just made no sense at all given the horrific safety violations I saw traveling the back road from Galesville to Deale. Where the heck were these guys when… Radar doesn’t worry me since I go the speed limit. I also ignore the tail gaters much to their chagrin, but I am sure these guys got their fair share of average Marylanders and none of the aggressive drivers that deserve tickets for aggressive behavior. No that takes real work.

I didn’t see one patrol officer going after aggressive drivers. Not one. I just saw two officers taking the easy approach to traffic safety at the radar speed trap. The speed trap they probably justify with statistics and traffic studies. I still maintain that despite their studies and priorities the people that drive with wanton disregard for the safety of others are not necessarily the ones driving a few miles per hour over the speed limit. The drivers that are unsafe are the aggressive drivers of which Maryland has more than its fair share a number of which followed me home that afternoon less than a car length from my back bumper at the speed limit.

I can tell you what we did see this afternoon in addition to a speed trap. At about 4:15 PM on eastbound MD Route 2 we did see a Maryland State Trooper a car length or less away from an innocent Marylander going the speed limit. No emergency lights. He just maintained that familiar intimate driving position with which we have all become so familiar.

Tail gaiting and aggressive driving is accepted behavior in Maryland. Speeding tickets are probably just a necessity to justify the existence of a traffic squad.

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