WOODLAWN, Md. — A gap in the Jersey wall stretching 149 feet allowed space for a vehicle from a high-speed crash to careen into six unsuspecting highway workers along the Baltimore Beltway.
According to the National Transportation Safety Board’s report, a vehicle meant to block that access was being used as a delivery truck after a flatbed had become disabled.
“This accident should never have happened,” said Michael Belky, an attorney for the family of 46-year-old Sybil DiMaggio, who was one of the six worker’s killed, who adds at the time of the accident, the report states that truck was serving no purpose, “This vehicle, however, had been moved and was parked and unattended in a place that did no good to the workers.”
The report also suggests a sign warning motorists of the closed shoulder had been taken out by a vehicle days earlier, but never replaced, as well as a series of accidents in that area leading up to the crash that should have prompted closing a lane of traffic or decreasing the speed limit.
In the months, which followed that crash, we asked state leaders if all of the safety protocols were in place at the time of the accident.
“State Highway Administration, on all of our construction projects, we require there to be safety inspectors on the site to make sure the maintenance of traffic devices and safety features throughout the project area are appropriate,” State Highway Administrator Will Pines told us on September 21, 2023.
It remains unclear whether such inspectors were present at the time, but the report says “daily reports identified no significant issues in the days before the crash”.
“Based on this report, it is the desire of my clients to hold all of those who caused or contributed to this accident accountable,” said Belsky, “That means not only the motorists, but also those responsible for not protecting the workers.”
