Md. State Police Eyeing Up Drunk Drivers This Holiday Weekend
BALTIMORE (WJZ)--Concerns from state police this holiday weekend means more traffic on the roadways and unfortunately an increase in drunk drivers.
Officials believe 870,000 people from Maryland will travel this holiday weekend --close to 90% of them will hit the roadways--but many, will be impaired.
WJZ's Rick Ritter has more on the busy weekend ahead and a mother's plea for help.
Powerful images. One Maryland victim after the other killed in drunk driving accidents.
"How stupid can you be to be buzzed or drunk and get behind the wheel," says AAA Mid-Atlantic's Lon Anderson.
For Cheryl Hammond, the pain is still fresh.
"I did not know it was possible to be in that much pain and still be alive," she said
February 2011, her daughter Jessica is hit and killed by a drunk driver while walking along the side of the road in Carroll County.
"To have her ripped away so violently, abruptly and carelessly by another, felt like a complete amputation of my soul," Hammond said.
It's heart wrenching stories like Cheryl's that state police are desperate to prevent this holiday weekend.
With their S.P.I.D.R.E. team scattered across Maryland, eyeing up impaired drivers.
Anderson says, "Wouldn't it be wonderful if this SPIDRE team didn't have a damn thing to do this holiday weekend and couldn't find a drunk driver?"
Between 2009 and 2013, 900 people are killed in drunk driving accidents across Maryland. Last year alone, 23,000 DUI arrests.
"Last weekend the team was in Montgomery County and they made 14 DUI arrests and 5 were repeat offenders, unbelievable," said Lt. Colonel Anthony Satchell, Maryland State Police.
With hundreds of thousands of drivers expected on Maryland roadways this 4th of July, Cheryl Hammond prays her story can save a life.
"I pray to god no one else has to get that call or knock on the door this weekend. People are irreplaceable, there's a million other ways to go about having fun this weekend," said Cheryl.
In just two year, the SPIDRE unit has made more than 4,000 stops, 1300 of those resulted in DUI arrests.
Nationwide, AAA projects more than 35 million people will be traveling on the roads for this holiday weekend.