MARYLAND (DC News Now) — Throughout Maryland, drivers could soon see more police presence near highway work zones and possibly pay higher fines for speeding past.
It’s one of several new steps that Gov. Wes Moore and Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller announced on Saturday to improve road safety. These new recommendations are expected to make roads safer and reduce the number of crashes in work zones throughout the state.
Moore said it’s their way of implementing an aggressive strategy for safety and to protect the people who work on them.
Officials said there have been more than 1,100 crashes in work zones in Maryland.
One of those crashes happened in May on I-495 when a Maryland State Police (MSP) trooper parked in a marked, closed off work zone and a driver plowed into the back of the trooper’s SUV.
The new initiatives by Maryland’s governor include:
- Increase in MSP troopers in work zones to coordinate more local enforcement presence in work zones.
- $500,000 in immediate funding for work zone safety awareness and educational campaigns.
- Updating the state’s driver manual to educate drivers about what to do in a work zone.
- Partnering with high profile leaders in the community to spread the message about work zone safety.
- Working with Maryland Public Schools to implement new work zone safety campaigns in schools.
- Increasing the number of speed cameras installed in the state.
- Raising the citation for speeding in a work zone.
According to a Maryland crash data, so far there have been at least 530 reported fatalities from crashes in the state this year.
The governor’s strategies announcement came after the Work Zone Safety Work Group gave its recommendations.
