In 2024, 1,300 drivers crashed in Maryland work zones. MDOT reports that’s been the average since 2019. The contractors’ union report 64% of its members say someone crashed into their road construction site in the past year. So the Maryland government decided to do something about it.

Lieutenant Governor Aruna Miller didn’t mince words.”Reckless driving at high speeds is a dangerous weapon in motion. Every second of carelessness on the road can steal a lifetime from someone else. Work zone safety is a shared responsibility with each of us choosing to slow down, stay focused, and value every life in the zone.”

The state OKed a network of speed cameras in work zones. In the past two months, these cameras have issued 48,000 tickets. That’s the equivalent of one of every 130 Maryland residents getting a speeding ticket.

The state reports 23 of those tickets were for $1,000 because the driver was moving 40+ mph above the posted speed limit.

Some states are rolling back speed cameras

Across the border, the Virginia General Assembly greenlit speed camera tickets in 2020. Now, multiple members of that Assembly are voting for stricter guidelines to limit police forces rolling out the cameras and ticketing motorists.

Transportation Committee Chair Karrie Delaney worries “profit policing” threatens “public trust for the program.” She justified House Bill 2041 saying, “We are putting in place the guardrails that are necessary to ensure that this is not a profit policing program and that there is no incentive to use these cameras to drive up revenue for localities.”

She argues that the police department must put warning signs 1,000 feet ahead of every camera. Those signs must also monitor driver speed and flash at drivers that are on their way to a ticket.

Bill author Holly Seibold added “We’re really trying to get the change in behavior, change in driving habits versus making any money off of these cameras.” In addition, newly-installed cameras can only be used to mail warnings for their first 30 days.

Would Maryland ever pass similar measures? Maybe as tens of thousands of Maryland drivers get tickets in the mail they’ll demand them.