Wherever You Live...Wherever You Drive

Wherever You Live ... Wherever You Drive

(Every driver needs to read this. Don't say you haven't been warned.)

“Enough is Enough”

Over the last few weeks, there have been several serious injury crashes in Frederick County on various primary highways including Route 50 West, Route 7 and Route 522 South. There have also been serious, even fatal, crashes on secondary roadways such as Cedar Creek Grade and Papermill Road. Members of the Frederick County Sheriff’s Office are actively trying to help reduce this increase.

Motorist traveling Rt 50 West, in the Gore area, may have recently noticed an increased presence from FCSO, including enhanced enforcement efforts taking place one weekday morning each week for the last 3 weeks including two with assistance from the Virginia State Police.

Preliminary results from those three separate 4-hour outings on Route 50:

* 120 Vehicles stopped
* 130 Traffic summonses issued
* 90 of those issued for speeding @ a minimum of 12+ mph over the posted limit and a maximum of 21 mph over the limit.

Sheriff Millholland has directed Deputies to proactively patrol known problem areas within Frederick County and to crack down on motorists who choose to ignore posted speed limits, drive aggressively or drive distracted.

Members of FCSO’s Traffic Division will continue to work team-based enhanced enforcement during morning and evening rush hours on different primary highways through the next few weeks. There will be a lower tolerance for speeding infractions in these areas, meaning those speeds that some have gotten used to driving above the limit may result in a traffic stop when these units are present to observe it. These vehicles and Deputies will not sit out in the open or in the normal spots some motorists might be accustomed to seeing them. There won’t be the announcing of dates and times for these enhanced enforcement efforts. Those that choose to travel above the posted speed limit should not be surprised at the presence of an FCSO Deputy behind them pulling them over and then issuing a summons, because this is the only notice being given and the only warning that will be received.

So, please feel free to share this post or tag friends and family members if you feel they will benefit from it’s content. Also know that we fully expect motorists will share or post the locations where they see Deputies set up on these days, as is the current trend on social media, or where they see motorists already pulled over along side the road trying to warn them about “the cops being out” and that they better slow down. Please go ahead and do so, because that’s all we want too. Even so, we will still be there and we will still deal with those that chose to push the envelope. There is no “magic number” that is safe to travel over the speed limit and get by with it. You should be aware that the limit posted is just that... the limit. Anything over it could get you pulled over.

Some have referred to activities such as this (as well as safety / sobriety checkpoints) as “money grabs” or attempts to bolster statistics and revenue. That simply isn’t true. There is no set number of summonses to be written or monetary incentives for Deputies making any set number of traffic stops. This isn’t about money or harassment or creating hardships for anyone.

This is about working fewer crashes...

Seeing fewer serious injuries suffered...

Fewer times where we knock on someone’s door with the news of the death of a loved one in a motor vehicle crash...

This is about all of us who share the road saying, to those that exhibit dangerous driving behaviors,

“Enough is Enough.”