In recent months, elected officials from the region have dealt with a conundrum: drivers from other states were getting speeding or red light tickets in places they did not live. Because the states don’t share a reciprocity agreement specifically for automated camera tickets, many of those drivers got off scot-free: they weren’t forced to pay the fine, nor were they held responsible through a hold on their registration and license. Had they been stopped by a cop, the story would have been different; they would have had to face those penalties.

With an increase in speeding and unsafe driving during the pandemic, elected leaders have been focused on making sure drivers are held accountable. But for months, the efforts to fix those loopholes have bounced from the state governors and D.C. mayor to the regional Council of Governments, back down to the local level, and more. Conversations are ongoing, though no solid date is set for a resolution.

But two delegates in Maryland’s General Assembly think their bill could get the ball rolling.

It was pitched by Del. Al Carr of Montgomery County and Del. Mary Lehman of Prince George’s and Anne Arundel counties. A hearing on the bill is scheduled for Thursday at 1 p.m. in the Environment and Transportation committee.

We spoke to Carr ahead of the hearing to find out more.

Jordan Pascale: What does this bill do?

Del. Al Carr: It’s really a pilot program that allows Maryland’s Motor Vehicle Administration to enter into agreements with other jurisdictions for the reciprocal enforcement of traffic violations caught by a red light camera. This would allow any state to enter into this agreement with Maryland as long as the two states have similar penalties.  This could be any state, but of course the top states for uncollected citations are the nearby states, D.C., Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania.

JP: Why did you introduce it?

AC: We’re all concerned — the public, policymakers — about traffic safety, and pedestrian safety. Unsafe driving has gotten worse during the pandemic. Automated enforcement is one of the tools that we can use to improve safety. But when you have a group of people who can endanger others, and break the rules with impunity, that is a problem.

So if you have somebody who drives unsafely in “State A”, but because they live in “State B,” they think they can get away with not paying, then that’s a problem. So there’s a very effective enforcement mechanism for in-state drivers, but not for out-of-state drivers. So I know in Maryland for in-state drivers, if you get a red light camera citation, and then you don’t pay, your registration will be flagged for non-renewal. You have to pay that before we will allow you to renew your registration, so that is a very effective way to get people to pay.

In Montgomery County, they have a 94% payment rate for in-state violators versus an 81% payment rate for out-of-state violators. In Prince George’s County, the collection rate for in-state violators is 97% and out of state is 82%.

It’s not to raise money. It’s to hopefully try to change driver behavior for safety reasons.

JP: Why does this focus only on red light violations?

AC: In Maryland, that was the first type of automated enforcement, that’s the oldest program. And so you have to start somewhere.

By making this bill smaller and simpler, perhaps I can persuade my colleagues and the General Assembly to move forward with the pilot program.

JP: You introduced this bill back in 2020, and it didn’t go anywhere. I know from covering state legislatures that it often takes a few years for lawmakers to get familiar with a bill and negotiate the details before coming to an agreement. Is that what happened here?

AC: Yeah, sometimes you put in a bill and you’re, you’re just sort of starting to starting the conversation, educating your colleagues on the issue. It was also timing. That was a pandemic session, we were in session from January 2020 to April 2020, everything shut down in March and we abbreviated everything we were working on at that time. So things fell by the wayside.

But in any case, this issue has gained more prominence recently, so I think it’s appropriate to bring it back and have another conversation about how to move forward.

JP: This issue has been talked about at seemingly every level of government, but so far hasn’t moved forward. Why do you think this belongs in the General Assembly, rather than an conversation among governors/mayors?

AC: When it comes to Maryland, I really think it’s a legislative issue. It’s not clear to me that the authority to do this is currently there in Maryland. But by passing a bill like this, we would make it crystal clear that it’s the will of the General Assembly.

JP: Do you have a sense of how this bill may fare? It seems like everyone has wanted to pass the buck so far.

AC: Legislatures can be really unpredictable. But I will give my best argument for why the bill is needed, and then leave it up to the wisdom of the committee.