Police from three jurisdictions issued 194 traffic citations in a single day as they focused on the shared border of Eastern Avenue, a road that connects D.C., Prince George’s County, Maryland, and the city of Mount Rainier.
According to a press release, D.C. police said the effort was initiated by increased reports of speeding, reckless driving and counterfeit tags in the area.
Lt. David Calloway with the Mount Rainier Police Department told WTOP what police observed during the effort.
“Obviously, distracted driving is very big — drivers on cellphones, talking, texting on cellphones. Speeding is another,” Calloway said.
During the Dec. 21 traffic operation, Calloway said there was also an emphasis on enforcement of DUI laws, but the effort was as much about education as it was enforcement.
“We have a database where we can see how many times drivers were stopped,” Calloway said.
If an officer spots a violation, but sees that it’s a first-time offense for a driver, that police officer may issue a warning.
“Sometimes we may go and see that, ‘Hey, you’ve been stopped for this several times,’ so we’ll go ahead and issue a citation,” he said.
He said many drivers are genuinely apologetic, and there are times when a violation was more an oversight than an intended act. Calloway said he pulled somebody over last week who wasn’t wearing a seat belt because he had just pulled out of his place of business.
“It did result in me giving him a warning, and just giving him an education [on] why it’s important to put on your seat belt immediately,” Calloway said.
The education component is something that Calloway said he emphasizes. “Because it allows you to have a conversation” with drivers and strengthen community policing, he said.
According to the press release, the three agencies “plan to continue this operation monthly.”
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