Baltimore Police Establish Citywide Traffic Team to Target Speeding, Reckless Driving, and High-Injury Crash Corridors

A new enforcement unit aims to reduce deaths and injuries on Baltimore streets

Baltimore police have launched a citywide traffic enforcement effort designed to curb speeding, reckless driving and other violations linked to serious crashes. The initiative began March 29, 2024, and was scheduled to run through the summer, with police deployments spread across all nine districts and focused on corridors and intersections that have seen the highest concentrations of fatal and injury crashes over the prior three years.

The strategy combines targeted enforcement with place-based safety changes intended to reduce repeat crash risks. Police leadership has framed the program as a response to rising concerns about illegal driving behavior, severe collisions and road-rage incidents on city streets.

How the team is being deployed

Police described the effort as a citywide deployment model rather than a single neighborhood operation. Enforcement locations are selected within each district, with multiple sites chosen at a time, and officers are directed to issue warnings and citations for traffic violations. The program also includes sobriety checkpoints carried out with partner agencies.

• Higher-visibility traffic enforcement in identified crash corridors
• Coordinated deployments using district resources and citywide units
• Sobriety checkpoints supported by partner agencies

Early activity and reported results

In the first phase of the initiative (March 29 through May 3, 2024), police reported 206 citations issued within designated enforcement zones and more than 3,300 traffic citations citywide over the same period. Police also reported more than 10,000 traffic stops since the initiative began, along with 60 arrests in which a traffic violation was recorded as a factor; 17 of those arrests involved handgun violations.

Police also reported a sharp change in traffic-fatality counts within the limited time window they reviewed: they recorded 16 vehicle-related fatalities in Baltimore earlier in 2024 before March 29, and one traffic-related fatality after the initiative began, with none in an enforcement zone during that period.

Enforcement paired with street-level changes

A key component of the plan relies on coordination between police Neighborhood Coordination Officers and city transportation officials to address environmental factors that contribute to crashes. Following site visits during the rollout, the city reported adjustments including replacing stop signs, adding speed-limit signage, reviewing signal timing, adding pedestrian markings and roadway striping, and evaluating whether automated speed enforcement cameras could be feasible in targeted areas.

The city’s broader safety planning has emphasized a data-driven approach that prioritizes high-severity crash locations and interventions ranging from speed management to separation of people walking and driving.

Context: why traffic enforcement is under renewed focus

The traffic initiative comes as Baltimore’s roadway safety planning has highlighted a rise in the severity of crashes. City safety materials have stated that roadway fatalities increased from 46 in 2023 to 64 in 2024, alongside an increase in serious injuries from 437 to 508 over the same period, with non-motorist deaths accounting for a substantial share of fatalities in 2024.

City officials have indicated that the traffic program is intended to support longer-term efforts aimed at reducing deaths and serious injuries through a combination of enforcement, engineering changes and data-driven prioritization of high-risk locations.