Elrich’s Address to Community on Reckless Driving and Car Meet-Ups

County Executive Marc Elrich addressed the community in his weekly message, highlighting concerns about reckless driving and dangerous car gatherings following a recent police intervention on February 10th:

We had State Del. Greg Wims and Police Sgt. Pat Kepp on our weekly media briefing last week talking about Senate Bills 939 and 940, as well as House Bills 1111 and 1160. These pieces of legislation would establish new benchmarks for reckless driving, including for anyone caught going more than 90 miles per hour. The bills would also clarify what constitutes aggressive driving.

Additionally, we are supporting House Bill 601 and Senate Bill 442 which specifically address Street Racing and Exhibition Driving. This bill will alter certain penalties and points assessments related to participation in a race or speed contest and prohibits a person from engaging in exhibition driving on any highway or private property that is used for driving by the public.

I want to thank Delegates Linda Foley, David Fraser-Hidalgo, Anne Kaiser, Sara Love, Julie Palakovich Carr, Emily Shetty, Jared Soloman, Vaughn Stewart, Joe Vogel, Jheanelle Wilkins and Natalie Ziegler for sponsoring the House bill, which had a hearing today in Annapolis.

All these bills are very important for the General Assembly to pass. Just last weekend, we saw a dangerous car meet ups in Takoma Park and at other locations throughout the State.

The Montgomery County Police Department, along with the State Police and local municipality police departments, do a good job of finding out about these gatherings and often stop them before they begin. But they cannot stop all of them. The few that get by are seen on the news and infuriate residents.

This lawlessness must stop. If you see a car meetup, call our police non-emergency number at (301) 279-8000. Do not call 9-1-1 about these incidents unless medical or police attention is immediately needed.

These gatherings terrorize nearby residents and hurt businesses. We are working hard to stop them and hopefully, we will succeed before someone gets seriously injured or killed at one of these events.