The National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation into the fatal March 2023 work zone accident in Baltimore that killed six construction workers found no problems with the contractor’s safety practices or zone setup work on the left shoulder of the I-695 Beltway.
Instead, the NTSB’s final report concludes, the incident was the result of a collision between two vehicles traveling at excessive speeds, both exceeding 120 miles per hour, that resulted in an out-of-control and through an opening in the temporary concrete barrier that separated the labor activity from the main circulation routes.
The accident occurred when workers at Concrete General, Inc. and KCI Technologies, Inc. were making pavement and drainage improvements as part of a state-funded project to turn the left shoulder into a temporary rush hour travel lane. The NTSB investigation determined that an Acura sedan traveling 122 mph in the far right travel lane crossed three lanes of traffic, colliding with a Volkswagen sedan traveling 121 mph in the left lane.
The impact sent the Volkswagen into the temporary barrier and caused the Acura to spin counterclockwise and lose control as it went through the roughly 149-foot-wide opening in the barrier. After overturning, the Acura slid across the work zone and struck the six workers, all of whom were pronounced dead at the scene.
“Although the opening in the concrete barriers allowed the Acura to enter the work zone after losing control,” the car’s speeding “was the key factor in determining how far the vehicle traveled through the work zone when it overturned” and impacted the workers, the report says. “In addition, the loss of control of the Acura was initiated by the driver’s unsafe high-speed lane change across three lanes and the collision with the high-speed Volkswagen.”
NTSB also noted that “the concrete barrier system prevented the Volkswagen from entering the work zone during the initial portion of the crash sequence, as designed. Additionally, there were final treatments adequate to attenuate shocks at the access openings to the work area of the barrier system”.
Although the driver of the Acura, Lisa Lea, 54, claimed to have suffered a seizure before the crash, the NTSB was unable to determine the potential role of a medical event in the incident. She is scheduled to go on trial in November on multiple charges, including six counts of involuntary manslaughter and negligent homicide.
The driver of the Volkswagen, Melachi Brown, 20, pleaded guilty to six counts of vehicular manslaughter earlier this year and served three months of an 18-month prison sentence before being released on home release .
Post-impact travel path for the Acura (shown as the blue vehicle) in relation to the physical evidence as overlaid on an orthomosaic image of the scene. Image: Maryland State Police; NTSB notes
Although the NTSB’s review of Concrete General’s safety practices and oversight of the project by the Maryland State Highway Administration (MDSHA) met applicable federal and state standards for the work zone safety, not everyone agrees. Last year, the Maryland Department of Labor issued MDSHA a violation for failing to post adequate signage alerting motorists to the movement of construction vehicles around a left shoulder work zone protected by barriers.
MDHA, which did not appeal the citation, responded at the time that such signage was “optional” and that it “would not have prevented the accident from occurring.”
The day after the NTSB report was released on Oct. 9, the family of crash victim Sybil DiMaggio, an inspector with KCI Technologies, filed a negligence lawsuit against Concrete General, the state of Maryland and the two drivers. The lawsuit cites safety deficiencies, including the left travel lane being open to traffic, the absence of a closed shoulder sign that had been knocked down and was scheduled to be replaced, and the improper positioning of an attenuator truck of impacts
The other workers killed were Concrete General Inc. employees: Rolando Ruiz, 46, of Laurel, Md.; Carlos Orlando Villatoro Escobar, 43, of Frederick, Md.; Jose Armando Escobar, 52, of Frederick, Md.; Mahlon Simmons III, 31, of Union Bridge, Md.; Mahlon Simmons II, 52, of Union Bridge, Maryland.
Changes in state security practices
Since the fatal crash in March 2023, Maryland has implemented several changes to highway work zone safety practices, based on the recommendations of a multidisciplinary task force led by Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller , a former transportation engineer. Along with reducing speed limits around work zones and adjacent lane closures, the Maryland Highway Worker Protection Act of 2024 eased existing restrictions on the use of speed safety cameras automated and increased fines for violations recorded by the devices.
The NTSB report concluded that these automated systems could have helped drivers maintain a lower speed and avoid the impact and resulting loss of control that sent the Acura into the work zone. These and other measures implemented by MDSHA “are likely to increase the safety of highway workers,” the report added.
