Michael Dresser

Getting There

Travel light, and ride close

May 12, 2008

It's been quite an experience riding the light rail system the past couple of weeks. Certainly it's been a great way to get to know your fellow Baltimoreans a little better. My favorite was that southbound stretch between Mount Washington and North Avenue, whipping around curves in a stuffed-to-the-gills one-car train while standing in a stairwell jotting down quotes offered by fellow members of the "crush load."

    Recent columns

  • Traffic court debate in session

    May 5, 2008

    Christopher Winslow of Baltimore is an ardent opponent of speed cameras who thinks I "really do follow the party line - the Nazi Party that is." He found my suggestion two weeks ago that citizens monitor the performance of their traffic courts to be downright sinister.

  • Driven to make our roads safer

    April 28, 2008

    Two weeks ago, this column suggested that cutting Maryland's highway death toll of more than 600 a year in half would be a worthy -- and achievable -- goal.

  • Speeders have their field day in court

    April 21, 2008

    Did it ever occur to you, while driving around Baltimore and its environs, that respect for Maryland's traffic laws had evaporated like dry ice left out on a July afternoon? Have you ever wondered why?

  • It's time to form a safety coalition

    April 14, 2008

    Maryland's speeders can rest easy another year. Thanks to the tender concern of the Maryland General Assembly, they are free to race through your neighborhoods and through highway work zones without fear of being nailed by speed cameras.

  • Gas pain might be changing our ways

    April 7, 2008

    It had to happen sometime. With gasoline prices pushing $3.50 a gallon, Marylanders might actually be changing their driving habits. The next thing you know, we'll be stopping for red lights.

  • Drinking, driving, ferrying abroad

    March 31, 2008

    For a transportation junkie, one of the great attractions of foreign travel is seeing how other societies handle the universal challenge of getting around.

  • Some big bothers over Big Brother

    March 24, 2008

    It's about time someone stood up for Big Brothers everywhere.

  • LA roads are worse than ours. Hooray?

    March 17, 2008

    Last month, before taking a vacation of almost three weeks, I noticed a large pothole smack in the middle of one of the left-turn lanes of Conway Street at South Charles Street - right across from the Sheraton Hotel.

  • Speeders don't like snitches, either

    February 25, 2008

    Avisit to Annapolis during the General Assembly session is usually good for a surreal moment or two. Last week's brought a doozy.

  • Speeders, camera shy, slow down

    February 18, 2008

    There's a reason lead-footed folks hate speed cameras. They work. Right here in Maryland, they're already motivating drivers to take it a little easier on the gas.

  • Every city deserves a ciclovia of its own

    February 11, 2008

    Greg Cantori wants to get into the Colombian import business and bring his product to the streets of Baltimore.

  • ICC opponents can keep project honest

    November 26, 2007

    The toothpaste is out of the tube. The fat lady has not only sung; she's cooling down with a post-operatic beer. The Rubicon has been crossed - by a six-lane toll bridge.

  • 'DWT' getting adults' attention

    June 18, 2007

    Sorry, kids. The sleeping Grownup Majority is awake - and ready to clamp down.

  • Safety should be paramount in ICC

    June 4, 2007

    There are compelling reasons to build the Intercounty Connector and compelling reasons not to build it. I'm staying neutral on that issue. But let's assume the courts uphold the decision to complete the 18.8-mile toll road through the Washington suburbs.

Michael Dresser

Michael Dresser

Live traffic updates
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Speeding tickets by jurisdiction 2006
A map and a table show the distribution of speeding tickets in Maryland by range of miles-per-hour over the limit.

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