GLEN BURNIE, Md. (September 25, 2017)—Governor Larry Hogan today announced $11.7 million in federal highway safety funds will be granted to approximately 90 agencies and organizations across the state with the goal of reducing crashes and related injuries and deaths.
The following six entities in So. Maryland are slated to receive funds:
• Calvert Alliance Against Substance Abuse $5,100.00
• Calvert County Sheriff's Office $37,500.00
• Charles County Sheriff's Office $70,000.00
• St. Mary's County Circuit Court $30,894.80
• St. Mary's County Sheriff's Office $42,500.00
• Town of La Plata Police Department $15,000.00
The funds are granted by the Hogan Administration and distributed through the Maryland Department of Transportation Motor Vehicle Administration's Highway Safety Office. The federal grant awards can only be used for traffic safety activities and are allocated based on crash data for each county and/or organization that applied for funding. Funds can only be spent during Federal Fiscal Year 2018 (October 1, 2017—September 30, 2018).
While the governor's office did not delineate how each organization proposed to use the funds, they did offer the following general efforts as ideas of how money will be spent:
• Increasing the use of seat belts in all seating positions;
• Preventing impaired, aggressive, and distracted driving;
• Increasing the safety of pedestrians, motorcyclists, and bicyclists;
• Promoting the correct use of child passenger safety seats;
• Funding overtime enforcement of Maryland's traffic laws;
• Supporting police training for highway safety and traffic enforcement; and
• Increasing e-capability and efficiency of Maryland's traffic data systems.
Maryland's five-year Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP) guides the funding of traffic safety-related projects and will be used by state and local agencies and non-profit groups to address the strategies set forth in the plan for meeting the Toward Zero Deaths goal of cutting the number of deaths on Maryland roads in half by 2030. The state also is working with various Maryland jurisdictions to develop local SHSPs that address community-specific traffic issues and complement the broader plan.