Gunpowder Chronicle posted on November 12, 2008 8:48 PM | Rating:
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Last Friday, there was a horrible accident on the Rt 1 Bypass in Bel Air that killed Katherine and Wilson Brady, and left her husband Stephen and other son Ian severely injured. It was a horrifying accident on a stretch of road that was not designed to handle the traffic flow that it does today. But it was also horrifying because it could have been prevented. And its time some people got their knickers in a twist so it doesn't happen again.
The State Highway Administration claims that this section of road is "safe". By what standard? My bet is that that the statisticians and the actuarial accounts have determined that since the death rate on that section of the road is relatively low, it doesn't represent a substantial hazard. Well, that's great. A low death rate is wonderful -- unless you are the one who dies. But people who actually drive that stretch of road -- and I did until it started scaring me to death -- know much better than some pompous traffic engineer sitting in an office.
From personal experience, I can tell you that the use of common sense does not factor into SHA decisions. Not at all. The SHA engineers I have seen justify the lack of a real light at Hereford High School, or the incompetent light configuration in Hereford, are mere tools. After all, any agency that continues to keep Salisbury City Councilman Gary Comegys on the payroll is not hiring the best and the brightest.
The Maryland State Police could have prevented Friday's accident. Christopher Lentz, the man who killed Katherine and Wilson Brady, had been stopped just 90 minutes earlier for sideswiping a van carrying seven children -- all of whom were sent to the hospital to get checked out. Instead, they let Lentz go. Despite the fact that he left the scene of the accident while driving a company vehicle. Despite the fact that he had a record a mile long of driving, drug, and alcohol infractions. Did the Troopers act within policy? Apparently so. Is it a smart policy? Absofrackinglutely not. The Troopers could have hauled him in, but you know, it was probably near an end of shift change, and who wants to be hassled with the paperwork, right? It's just easier to follow the policy.
Except that Stephen Brady is a widower and Ian Brady doesn't have a mom or a brother anymore.
And let's talk about the Courts. The courts and the States Attorneys that continually gave Christopher Lentz another chance. Nolle Pros. Suspended sentences. He's got a horrific record. Why wasn't he in jail? He was caught one time doing 77 in a 55. Why didn't he lose his license? For too long, judges and prosecutors have been playing this little game of production-line justice, design to lighten dockets and course loads -- not dispense justice. They act like they are being fair, and judicious. But they aren't. They are abusing their discretion at the expense of the citizens of Maryland.
And this time, it cost two lives.
Something needs to change. And it needs to change fast. Not later, not down the road. Now. Right now. If the Government of Maryland cannot protect its citizens, the citizens may need to consider taking matters into their own hand. Because this nonsense has to stop. Defendants may have the right to the presumption of innocence. But the rest of us are owed justice.
And the bill is due.