The Montgomery County Council passed bills seeking to install speed cameras in school zones and certain highway stretches while creating harsher penalties for the illegal car rallies that can turn violent.
The Maryland lawmakers approved both proposals unanimously, with city officials soon able to place speed cameras in the school zones that typically top out at 20 mph.
County officials can further place the cameras in “high crash risk corridors” that frequently see speeding and accidents.
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Officials have not determined where the cameras will be placed, but they can begin that process following the enactment of the Vulnerable Road User Protection Act this month.
The new law lets counties install cameras along “safety corridors” that are identified by the State Highway Administration.
The SHA has to conduct a Vulnerable Road User Safety Assessment to pick out those troublesome segments of road after looking at five years of crash data. The federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, passed in 2021, requires each state’s Department of Transportation to publish a safety assessment.
Last week, Montgomery County recorded its 41st traffic fatality of the year when a woman was struck and killed near the intersection of Randolph Road and Sherwood Forest Drive.
The fatality already surpasses the 39 traffic deaths from 2025. The data accounts for deaths from motorists, cyclists and pedestrians.
Montgomery County’s most recent high mark for fatal crashes was 45 in 2022, the most deadly collisions since at least 2015.
The bill targeting the illegal car rallies, often called street takeovers, raises fines for organizers and participants in the driving exhibitions from $1,000 to $5,000.
Drivers can also have their cars seized by police for regularly joining the rallies that see drivers performing stunts and doughnuts in the middle of public roads.
The new civil enforcement mechanisms are in addition to criminal and traffic laws that offenders already face when caught in the takeovers.
“This is a tool in the tool kit to allow our police to be able to actually crack down on these and to keep our community safe,” council member Andrew Friedson said during the hearing.
Two different rallies in Kensington and Chevy Chase spiraled into chaos this year.
Montgomery County police charged Hermes Matewere, 19, in an April 4 shooting that erupted during a rally inside a Safeway parking garage.
Two people were wounded when Mr. Matewere opened fire on the crowd, police said. The suspect faces assault, reckless endangerment and several firearms charges in the incident.
In February, police said they arrested two adults and a teenager during a street takeover in which the suspects mobbed an occupied police cruiser.
Authorities said rallygoers gathered at the intersection of East-West Highway and Connecticut Avenue before smashing one officer’s cruiser windows.
Police said one of the suspects, 18-year-old Ayden Joseph Cline, is accused of climbing atop a police cruiser with a lit flare. The other adult suspect, 20-year-old Novorriya Gregory Smith Jr., is accused of breaking a cruiser window and exposing himself to the officer.
Investigators said a 17-year-old was arrested during the incident, but did not describe the juvenile’s actions.
Mr. Smith and Mr. Cline were charged with reckless endangerment, and all three suspects were charged with disorderly conduct, malicious destruction of property, failure to obey lawful orders and hindering.
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