Maryland drivers keep plowing into highway workers

Two Maryland State Highway Administration workers died in crashes last month. A third was struck and injured yesterday. The agency is, understandably, losing its patience.

What’s Happening: The Maryland State Highway Administration posted a pointed message Sunday calling out drivers who fail to move over or slow down for roadway workers and emergency responders.

The post came one day after one of the agency’s emergency response technicians was struck while sitting inside his vehicle, injured almost immediately after arriving at a crash scene.

What’s Important: Two highway workers were killed in separate crashes in May. Last week, other states reported similar deaths. The agency says the pattern of dangerous driver behavior “will not be tolerated.”

The Rule: Maryland’s Move Over law requires drivers to move to an adjacent lane or slow down when passing stopped emergency vehicles, tow trucks, and highway maintenance vehicles with flashing lights. It is not a suggestion. It is, as the agency put it with the subtlety of a flare gun, “not optional — it’s the law.”

How This Affects Real People: The workers being struck are flaggers, maintenance crews, and emergency responders doing their jobs on the shoulder of roads that drivers treat like a personal obstacle course. Three incidents in roughly 30 days in Maryland alone suggests the problem is not a fluke.