Dive Brief:
- One of the two drivers charged in a March 2023 crash that killed six construction workers on I-695 near Baltimore pleaded guilty to six felony manslaughter counts, according to CBS News Baltimore.
- Each count carries a possibility of 3 months to 24 years in prison, but as part of a plea deal, Melachi Brown likely will face a year and a half in prison, followed by probation and community service, CBS reported. He will be sentenced in March.
- Brown, 20, allegedly was driving 121 mph when he clipped Lisa Lea, who court documents said was traveling 108 mph and attempting to change lanes. Lea’s car careened into a work zone as a result, killing the construction workers. She faces the same charges, and her trial is scheduled for April.
Dive Insight:
The six victims were: Rolando Ruiz, 46; Carlos Orlando Villatoro Escobar, 43; Jose Armando Escobar, 52; Mahlon Simmons III, 31; Mahlon Simmons II, 52; and Sybil Lee Dimaggio, 46, according to CBS News Baltimore.
In 2021, there were 956 total work zone fatalities across the country, according to the National Workforce Safety Information Clearinghouse. In May, the Associated General Contractors of America found more than half (55%) of surveyed highway contractors reported motor vehicles crashing into their work zones in the last year.
More often than not, AGC reported, motorists are injured or killed in such collisions. Seventy-two percent of respondents reported no injured workers and 92% reported no fatalities, but 59% had at least one motorist or passenger injury and 16% one motorist fatality.
The I-695 crash made national headlines, renewing conversations about ways to curb work zone crashes and get drivers to slow down. Although speed cameras and fines can serve as a deterrent, not every state DOT has adopted the practice. Often, road work jobsites use orange barrels as a less-expensive alternative to jersey barriers.
“We don’t realize that if we drive through a 5-mile construction zone at 70 mph versus 40 mph, it takes just over three minutes longer to get through those five miles,” John Davis, retired American Public Works Association government affairs committee member and public works engineer, told Construction Dive in the weeks after the crash. “So is that three minutes worth our safety and the safety of the workers along the way? Probably so.”
