A recent law aims to increase safety and protect city workers doing one of the most dangerous jobs in America.
Gov. Larry Hogan signed Maryland’s “Operation When Approaching Vehicle with Visual Signals” law last spring, making Maryland the 18th state to enact so-called Slow Down to Get Around legislation.
The law, which went into effect Oct. 1, is designed to protect workers performing roadside collections, such as city recycling and trash collection crews. It requires drivers approaching from the rear of a collection truck to make a lane change or to “slow to a reasonable and prudent speed that is safe for certain existing conditions.”
Trash collection has historically maintained a position as the country’s fifth-most dangerous occupation. Thirty-eight solid waste industry employees were killed in 2017, including 23 who died on collection routes, according to the Solid Waste Association of North America. The first two worker fatalities in 2017 took place in Maryland. Marcus Colbert, a City of Laurel Department of Public Works employee, was killed on the job on Jan. 23, 2017, when an SUV fatally struck him while he was working behind a city trash truck.
Motorists are encouraged to go slow or wait before passing recycling and trash collection crews. It’s in the name of safety – and now it’s in the name of the law.