The Montgomery County Council voted 11-0 on Oct. 20 to make street takeovers a county offense with a maximum fine of $5,000, five times the county’s usual ceiling for that class of offense. The provision in Bill 27-26 that will reach more drivers is a single subsection near the end, which lets county police take possession of a car used in a violation and have it towed and stored.
On the same afternoon, by the same 11-0 margin, the council passed Bill 17-26, which lets the county point its existing speed cameras at state highways it has been barred from enforcing. Read together, the two bills say the same thing about how Maryland’s most populous county plans to police its roads: put the consequence on the car, because there are not enough traffic stops to put it on the driver.
What the takeover bill does, and what it no longer does
Councilmember Andrew Friedson introduced the bill on June 16 with co-sponsors Marilyn Balcombe, Sidney Katz and Dawn Luedtke. It adds a new section to the county code covering races, speed contests, exhibition driving, stunt driving and street takeovers, which the bill defines as coordinated gatherings that intentionally disrupt traffic for burnouts, drifting, doughnuts and similar maneuvers…