Maryland State Police said they conducted they operation on Saturday because a three-year crash analysis study determined the Columbus Day weekend "has a high propensity" for speed-related crashes.

A crackdown on speeding and “aggressive driving” on the Maryland side of the Capital Beltway over the weekend resulted in scores of traffic stops and almost as many tickets.

In just four hours Saturday — between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. — authorities stopped 274 drivers, wrote 265 tickets, gave 89 warnings and issued 16 safety-equipment repair orders, Maryland State Police said in a news release.

Maryland state troopers and the Prince George’s County Police Department teamed up on the operation and included 11 troopers and six officers from Prince George’s County.

Maryland State Police said they conducted the operation on Saturday because a three-year crash analysis study determined the Columbus Day weekend “has a high propensity” for speed-related crashes.

In 2017, there were more than 4,500 crashes in Maryland related to aggressive driving, which caused 54 deaths, state police said. Over the last five years, more than 85% of aggressive driving crashes in Maryland happened in the Baltimore-D. C. area.