The National Governors Association has chosen the Maryland Department of Transportation Motor Vehicle Administration (MDOT MVA) to participate in an initiative designed to address impaired driving-related injuries and fatalities.
The Learning Collaborative project is possible via a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) grant. A core team of advisers representing several Maryland agencies would learn from national experts and study other states’ efforts to improve educational programs, technology, legislation, laboratory testing, and training as a means of bolstering traffic safety.
“Eliminating crashes involving alcohol or drugs has been a priority for my administration and for traffic safety professionals throughout the state,” said Gov. Larry Hogan said. “This Learning Collaborative will help Maryland implement evidence-based programs and practices to reduce impaired driving.”
The project’s result would include improvement and expansion of the state’s data system to track impaired driving offenders from arrest to adjudication to treatment; increased timeliness and accessibility of Maryland’s crash data through dashboards giving highway safety partners access to timely, standardized data; an analysis of the state’s impaired driving program to determine needs regarding manpower, training, technology, legislation, and regulation; and creation of a process to increase judicial acceptance of drug recognition expert evidence in the absence of blood test results.
“The goal is to reduce – and ultimately eliminate – traffic-related injuries and fatalities,” MDOT MVA Administrator Chrissy Nizer said. “Using a data-driven approach will allow us to effectively craft strategies to develop impaired driving enforcement and education programs.”