The rise of pedestrian deaths on Maryland roads last year — even as the number of such incidents fell nationwide — is undoubtedly an “alarming” trend, as Maryland Motor Vehicle Administrator Christine Nizer recently acknowledged to The Baltimore Sun.

And as delighted as some may be to hear that state and local governments are moving forward with design changes to update Maryland’s roadways to make them more bicycle and pedestrian-friendly, we trust that Nizer and others will endorse a more short-term, if sometimes unpopular, strategy, to save lives: Have police out there pulling over more speeders, and drunk and impaired drivers.

If the COVID-19 pandemic and the work-from-home movement had a more obvious fallout, we can’t name it: In cities like Baltimore, police aren’t enforcing traffic laws like they used to. It started as a product of fewer vehicles on the road, but as cars returned, enforcement did not. Why? Workforce shortages may play a role. Some police agencies may be reluctant to enforce traffic laws for fear of being accused of discrimination. And, of course, police have other duties. In Baltimore, for example, law enforcement is often more focused on gun violence, carjacking, theft and property crimes more apt to stir citizen concerns than exceeding the speed limit.

Yet the traffic death numbers represent a real danger. At least 610 Marylanders died in crashes last year compared to 465 a decade ago. That’s a 31% rise. And it’s not just about more vehicles on the road. The rate of fatalities has risen as well — from .82 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled to 1.05, a 28% increase. That’s somewhat above the national rise of those key statistics — 25% and 15% over that same period. And Maryland’s higher number of pedestrian deaths is among the worst in the Mid-Atlantic — even if there are some signs of improvement so far this year.

We’re all for driver education campaigns and TV ads cautioning people to be careful out there. But at some point, officials need to get a little tougher. Increased use of speed cameras is surely helpful and cost-efficient (not to mention useful for raising money to help pay for improved roads and other underfunded transportation initiatives), but police are going to have to pull over aggressive drivers and pull out their citation books. Better engineered roads are great, but they won’t do much good if certain irresponsible drivers believe they have a license to do whatever they please — including endangering the rest of us.