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Why traffic deaths are up but tickets are down

A recent Sun editorial erroneously tried to correlate the increase in traffic fatalities with the decrease in traffic citations issued ("Traffic deaths up, tickets down," April 28).

"If roads are getting busier … the number of citations should actually be increasing, since more cars mean more speeders," the writer opines. "It should be … a target-rich environment for writing traffic tickets."

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In fact, busier roads mean more congestion and slower traffic. The decline in traffic citations isn't because of lax enforcement by police, as The Sun suggests, but because frequent traffic jams limit the opportunities for drivers to speed.

The editorial even calls for Gov. Larry Hogan to "don a state trooper hat and take radar gun in hand and start pulling over speeders."

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That might make for a catchy news story and photo op, but the governor's common-sense approach to investing in highway improvements will do far more to make our roads safer.

Scott Shaffer, Annapolis

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