Maryland State Police Win National Challenge To Keep Drivers Safe

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Maryland State Police have won a national challenge to keep drivers safe. State troopers received three awards in the competition.

Gigi Barnett has more on what it means for commuters.

Maryland State Police's SPIDRE team is one of the best in the nation. Those are the troopers who track down drunk and impaired drivers. The highly-trained team just won a national award for its efforts.

"It's not about just writing tickets, it's about educating the public," said Sgt. Marc Black, Maryland State Police.

That's not the only award the department recently earned. A second commendation recognized troopers for their commercial vehicle safety program. Back in 2012, troopers saw a spike in crashes involving buses and heavy trucks. At least 70 people died that year in wrecks with commercial vehicles.

But now, because of their efforts, the number of deaths has dropped.

"In 2014, we dramatically reduced that number to 39. That's through inspections; that's through safety enforcement efforts," Black said.

Drivers say kudos and even offered other areas to focus on.

"We definitely got to get a handle on texting and drivers. I mean, people holding their phones [and] running into the back other other people," said John Honeyblue.

"Nowadays, it's a big thing that kids don't wear their seatbelts," said Chelsea Perkins.

State troopers beat out 200 other police departments around the nation for their third accolade, which commends the department for cracking down on traffic violations like speeding and aggressive driving.

So far this year, state troopers have arrested nearly 6,000 impaired drivers.