Miller highlights increased fines, I-695 tragedy in calling for safety during busy travel months

Heading into the summer travel months, during which nearly half of Maryland roadway deaths last year occurred, Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller on Wednesday called for responsible driving and reiterated that drivers speeding or being reckless near work zones will soon face steeper fines.

More work zones across the state, of which there are about 300 on any given day, are also expected to soon have automated speed cameras.

“While a majority of Marylanders do practice safe driving habits, we also know that some do not,” Miller, who worked as a transportation engineer for 25 years, said in prepared remarks for this year’s annual AAA Memorial Day news conference at Bridges Restaurant in Queen Anne’s County.

Miller said there have already been 205 people killed on Maryland roads this year.

Last year, roadway crashes contributed to more than 600 deaths — the highest toll since 2007, she said.

Nearly half of the crashes were between May and September.

Safe driving around work zones took on new urgency last year. At midday on March 22, 2023, an out-of-control 2017 Acura TLX sedan traveling north on Interstate 695 entered an active construction zone through an opening in a temporary concrete barrier, overturned, and struck construction materials and six workers, killing them.

The driver, Lisa Adrienne Lea, 55, of Baltimore, lost control after attempting to switch lanes and collided with a 2017 Volkswagen Jetta, driven by now-21-year-old Melachi Duane Darnell Brown, of Windsor Mill.

Both vehicles were traveling faster than 100 mph on a road with a 55 mph speed limit, according to a National Transportation Safety Board investigation.

Lea, who sustained incapacitating but non-life-threatening injuries, faces 28 charges related to the crash and is due back in the Circuit Court for Baltimore County on May 29.

A judge in March sentenced Brown to 18 months in the Baltimore County Detention Center, plus three years of supervised probation and 40 hours of community service.

Weeks after the devastating crash, state officials formed a work group of police officers, labor leaders, traffic engineers, highway safety experts and roadside workers to recommend policy changes and spark a shift in driver culture to prevent future tragedies.

Traffic officials have said that, over the past five years and particularly following the COVID-19 pandemic, Maryland has seen a spike in roadway deaths, including in work zones.

Increasing fines, allowing the use of unmanned cameras to boost the number of automated speed traps in work zones, lowering speed limits in construction zones and posting billboards about increased work zone penalties were among the work group’s recommendations.

At $40, Maryland’s maximum fines are tied for the lowest of any state that permits automated speed enforcement.

Beginning June 1, the fine for work zone speed camera violations will be $80. Then, starting Jan. 1, drivers will face fines between $60 and $1,000, depending on their speed and whether workers were present.

Someone driving 12 to 15 mph over the speed limit in a work zone with no workers present will face a $60 fine.

Fines will be doubled when workers are present. A driver going 40 or more mph over the speed limit with workers present will pay $1,000.

Work group members had discussed bumping the fine to $250, resembling what drivers face for speeding in a work zone if a police officer pulls them over.

The increased fines are projected to raise millions of dollars for road projects and maintenance.

“This,” Miller said of the higher fines and other work zone safety measures, “will better protect the men and women who put themselves in harm’s way every day to build and maintain our infrastructure.”