Welcome to the Maryland Pace Car Program!
Make a difference on our roads. Pledge to follow speed limits, advocate for safety, and lead by example.
Every day a hundred people are injured on our roads in Maryland. Three people die every two days. Road crash violence is not acceptable and is preventable. Pace Car is a simple way to become a rolling speed bump by always driving the speed limit and displaying the Pace Car bumper sticker. Endorsed by highway safety officials such as our police, transportation departments and elected leaders, Pace Car Drivers not only set the pace for road safety while driving, but these safe-roads ambassadors are our core advocates in advocating for laws and enforcement that save lives. We all win when everyone gets home safely.
“Let’s Set the Pace for Road Safety in Maryland”
Why We Need Pace Cars
Maryland road deaths and injuries are at the highest levels in decades. We're frustrated about the dangers on our roads, but together we can make a difference. The Maryland Pace Car Program encourages residents to take responsibility for their driving while setting the "pace" for safer streets and neighborhoods.
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Pace Car is a simple way to become a rolling speed bump by always driving the speed limit and displaying the Pace Car sticker. Endorsed by highway safety officials, police, transportation departments, and elected leaders, Pace Car Drivers not only set the pace for road safety while driving but serve as safe-roads ambassadors advocating for laws and enforcement that save lives.
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The Neighborhood Pace Car program enables residents to model great driving behavior on their own streets without any intervention from a local government or highway department and while following traffic laws. In 2000, Australian activist David Engwicht worked with residents in Boise, Idaho, to create the first neighborhood Pace Car concept to control cut-through traffic on what was once a quiet residential street. They created a humorous “Pace Car” decal for their cars and drove the speed limit up and down the street to safely escort through traffic from one end of their street to the other.
Since then, the Pace Car program has expanded to Washington DC; Salt Lake City; Mesa, AZ; San Carlos, CA; Las Cruces, NM; Davis, CA; Freehold Township, NJ; Reno, NV; Santa Cruz, CA; and dozens of other locations. Pace car volunteers sign a pledge to drive within the speed limit on local streets, stop for pedestrians, drive courteously, and display a Pace Car sticker on their vehicles. Pace Car drivers act as “mobile speed bumps,” slowing the flow of traffic behind them. The more Pace Car drivers in a neighborhood, the better it works.
Get Involved
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Sign the Safe Driver Pledge.
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Join the Pace Car program by submitting the form below.
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Tell us why you want to be a Pace Car Driver—we want to add your voice to those who are also Pace Car drivers and to those who have been hurt or killed by other drivers.
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Tell your family, friends, and neighbors why you're a Pace Car Driver.
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Encourage others to join the movement.
What We Are (And Aren't)
The Pace Car Program is a voluntary community initiative focused on promoting safe driving through positive example. We are not:
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A community policing or enforcement organization
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Reporting or monitoring other drivers
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Trying to get anyone in trouble
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Attempting to enforce traffic laws
Our mission is simply to make roads safer by modeling good driving behavior. We lead by example, driving safely and legally ourselves. We're your neighbors who care about everyone's safety and want to create positive change through our own actions.
About Us & Pace Car Progam History
In the early 2000’s, Eve DeCoursey, the former Executive Director of the Hawaii Bicycle League, approached Greg Cantori, then president of Maryland’s One Less Car, about starting a Pace Car program in Maryland. Eve had successfully launched Pace Car in Hawaii and experienced an upsurge of wonderfully committed road safety advocates who wanted to make a difference in reducing the crash, injury and deaths on Hawaii roads. With tons of energy and passion, she launched a great program here in Maryland with partnerships and sponsors. Tragically, we lost Eve to cancer far too early, as well as our Pace Car program.
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Greg always kept Eve’s powerful vision in mind as he played his highland bagpipes at dozens of roadside memorials for those killed by drivers, attended legislative hearings, and wrote Op Eds in the papers.
In 2005, Greg was also hit by a speeding, chain-smoking, cell phone-holding, soccer mom (racing to pick up her kid at practice) while riding his bike home from work. (Yes, she was a real soccer mom). He was lucky to survive and complete the adoption of his two teenage daughters. They almost lost their parents twice….
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The last straw was in July 2024 when Greg stopped to help a 69-year-old man on Hilltop Lane in Annapolis who was hit by an SUV. The fellow on the bike was in a marked bike lane. Then, just a week later on the same road, Greg again stopped to help a 40-year-old woman who was not only in a marked crosswalk, but one with bright yellow signs on each end. She was hit so hard her shoes were knocked off, her hip dented the car hood, and her head smashed the windshield. Greg, to this day, does not know if she, or the man hit on the bicycle, survived, or are now managing life-altering injuries. They were doing everything right, yet speeding drivers still hurt them.
Too many of us have been hit, injured or are simply fed up with our ‘might-is-right’ anonymous road violence and ‘get out of my way’ driving culture. So we are relaunching Pace Car Maryland in honor of the tens of thousands hurt and thousands killed, and in fond memory of Eve DeCoursey’s passionate Pace Car leadership. Pace Car is our powerful tool to engage our best and most responsible drivers in preventing as many injuries and deaths as we can.
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Join us as a Pace Car Driver!
