Motorists

While one commiserates with the property owners along the Windsor Mill Road stretch ("Roadside residents clamor for relief from speeders," Jan. 10) who have endured a variety of speeding-auto-inflicted damages, this section of roadway - stretching miles into the city and miles north into Owings Mills - is equally harrowing for the garden variety motorist. Over years of daily use, I am routinely passed on the double yellow while maintaining the 30 mile per hour limit, passed on the right without any warning, and furthermore abused by sight (flicking lights)

So, we don't need speed cameras? Perhaps Matt Hersl's life might not have been saved by the presence of speed cameras, but neither was it saved even by the presence of a state trooper ("City worker killed in City Hall crash," April 10). The interstate highways around Baltimore are race tracks where speed limits are routinely ignored by 15 mph or more. To those who feel the cameras victimize them I say: There are no "victims" in traffic enforcement, only violators. Judging from The Sun's reports, Matt Hersl was a magnificent man, neighbor and friend who will be sorely missed and mourned by his family.

Motorists traveling north on Interstate 95 in Baltimore could encounter delays. An unspecified incident could slow traffic near exit 56 for Keith Avenue. Debris in the roadway on northbound I-95 in Howard County near Route 32 could block traffic.

I spent my first morning of spring break sitting in traffic court fighting a speed camera ticket. Good times all around, especially when you consider the great problems the city has had with its speed camera system. More than 25 drivers gathered in Judge Kathleen Sweeney's courtroom, and a whole pack of people were quickly found not guilty. Theirs were one of several cars going through intersections at the same time, and Judge Sweeney said the cameras apparently can't tell exactly which car in a group is speeding.

WESTMINSTER — County officials and the Westminster Road Runners Club are alerting residents that several roads in greater Westminster will be part of the route for a half marathon being run on Sunday, Sept. 23, between 8 and 10:30 a.m. The event will be staged in the area of Old Bachmans Valley, Lemmon, Sullivan, Beggs, Old Fridinger Mill and Fridinger Mill roads. Roadways will remain open to traffic, but motorists should use caution and be aware of the runners.

Motorists who use Falls Road in Mount Washington are being advised by city transportation officials to take alternate roads Thursday and Friday to avoid emergency utility repair work. Crews have closed lanes northbound Falls Road at Kelly Avenue and two-way traffic has been shifted to the southbound side of the roadway. Traffic will be directed by flagmen until 3 p.m., when one lane of northbound Falls Road will be reopened for through traffic. Additional lane closures and a traffic flagging operation will resume along the southbound side of Falls Road from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake defended the city's nearly $20 million in revenue from its booming speed camera program Wednesday, placing the blame on motorists who refuse to slow down. "It's a minor inconvenience for people who routinely break the law," the mayor said of the $40 speeding tickets triggered by the city's 83 cameras. She spoke after the city's spending board received documents showing a multimillion-dollar increase from the cameras. The city got $19.2 million in revenue from the program over the past year - a nearly tenfold increase in the three years the cameras have been operating.

A Baltimore police officer and two motorists were injured around 7 a.m. Sunday when their vehicles collided at the intersection of Clifton Ave. and N. Longwood St. in West Baltimore, police said. All three were taken to a hospital with what were believed to be non-life-threatening injuries, according to Det. Kevin Brown, city police spokesman. The crash is under investigation, he said. Tim.wheeler@baltsun.com Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

Maryland State Police are pleading with motorists who scooped up cash that fell out of an armored truck along a Montgomery County highway this morning to return it. No questions asked. No charges filed. Just bring it to the Rockville Barracks. About $5,000 spilled onto I-270 and police said people stopped and gathered the bills as the truck's driver sped along the road. The Washington Post is reporting that only about $100 has been recovered . What would you do?

Ten motorists were arrested and face charges for drunken driving following a three-hour sobriety checkpoint May 25 on Pulaski Highway in Joppa, the county Sheriff's Department said.The average blood-alcohol content of those arrested was .13, the department said. Motorists found with a blood-alcohol content of between .07 and .10 can be charged with driving under the influence. Motorists with a blood-alcohol content of more than .10 can be charged with driving while intoxicated.Sheriff's deputies and troopers from the state police barracks atBenson stopped 701 vehicles at the checkpoint, police said.

In Annapolis, some conservative Republicans - having apparently not taken notice of the 2012 election and the conundrum facing their party over its hard-line immigration stance at the national level - are lambasting a proposal to expand and make permanent a two-tier driver's license system in Maryland. One even warned that Maryland could soon become a "Disneyland" for illegal immigrants. But it is opponents who are living in a Disney-like fantasy land if they can't see who the chief beneficiary would be of any system that seeks to ensure all Maryland drivers meet minimum standards of knowledge and competency and are eligible for insurance.

Opponents of the effort to raise Maryland's gas tax have thrown around a lot of ridiculous claims in recent weeks, from the argument that the money isn't really needed (if anything, the projected $600 million-a-year return is not enough to meet Maryland's future transportation needs) to hand-wringing over local transportation aid that was diverted toward balancing the state budget during the depths of the recession - as if using the money to spare cuts to schools or avoid tax increases wasn't preferable to pot hole repairs.

Once again, Virginia has beaten Maryland to the punch regarding taxes on business and consumers. Virginia eliminated its gas tax completely and replaced it with a 3.5 percent sales tax on the wholesale price of gasoline. Gov. Martin O'Malley's new tax increase proposal would reduce the gas tax rate 5 cents but add a sales tax to the retail price of gasoline and diesel, resulting in a 63 percent increase in the tax on gas and a 90 percent increase in the diesel tax. Only in Maryland would we claim to "reduce" taxes in a way that results in increases - and leaves Maryland retailers at a devastating competitive disadvantage.

The Maryland Department of Transportation wants to proceed with the light rail Purple Line at a newly raised price tag of $2.15 billion. The Purple Line now costs more than twice the rapid transit bus alternative while yielding only a 25 percent increase in ridership. This is not a cost-effective investment of public dollars. For the cost of the Purple Line, Marylanders could have bus rapid transit along the Purple Line corridor and rapid bus transit along Montgomery County's I-270 corridor plus have a half billion dollars to fund other transportation projects.

For Joe Stumpf, it appears persistence has paid off: The city has promised to refund him the $40 fine he paid after receiving an erroneous speed camera ticket. It took the city Department of Transportation 10 weeks - during which time Stumpf fired off several emails - but the agency told him Wednesday he could expect a check in the next couple of weeks. “I tell you, it's been frustrating,” said Stumpf, who lives in Anne Arundel County and works as a machinist near M&T Bank Stadium.

A man was critically injured in Laurel on Friday morning when his car veered off Interstate 95 and crashed into the rear of a parked tractor trailer, Maryland State Police said. According to State Police Sgt. Anthony Riley, the driver was traveling northbound when his vehicle left the road, drifted onto the shoulder and struck the tractor trailer, which was parked on the shoulder. The driver's vehicle became trapped underneath the tractor trailer; fire and rescue officials removed the motorist from the vehicle with the Jaws of Life hydraulic rescue tool, Riley said.

It's not exactly a bolt of lightning or a burning bush.But if the new "God speaking" billboard campaign can get people thinking about the Almighty instead of topless joints or cold brews, then its supporters will consider it a success."

Pennsylvania State Police are advising motorists heading to or from Baltimore to avoid a stretch of Interstate-83 near York, where people throwing rocks have damaged at least 20 cars and injured several drivers.One person needed more than 100 stitches in his face after being cut by his shattered windshield.Cpl. Craig Fenstermaucher of the York County detachment of the Pennsylvania State Police said two vehicles were hit yesterday by white sandstone rocks, generally the size of a human fist, near exits 7 and 12 outside of York.

While one commiserates with the property owners along the Windsor Mill Road stretch ("Roadside residents clamor for relief from speeders," Jan. 10) who have endured a variety of speeding-auto-inflicted damages, this section of roadway - stretching miles into the city and miles north into Owings Mills - is equally harrowing for the garden variety motorist. Over years of daily use, I am routinely passed on the double yellow while maintaining the 30 mile per hour limit, passed on the right without any warning, and furthermore abused by sight (flicking lights)

Federal Hill resident Sean O'Connor wants to fact-check the automated speed camera ticket that he got in Baltimore County. But he can't. "It is not precise enough," said O'Connor, 27, who got the ticket in September alleging he was traveling 47 mph on Goucher Boulevard in Towson. "I would love a more accurate and reliable method of knowing that this ticket is valid, rather than just trusting the computerized radar gun that's been sitting there. " Unlike Baltimore City, whose speed camera system supplies motorists with two precise, time-stamped photos as evidence that they were violating the law, Baltimore County, Howard County and the State Highway Administration give motorists pictures with times rounded off to the second, proving only that the vehicle drove past the camera, a Baltimore Sun review has found.