Ohio lawmakers want to crack down on reckless driving in work zones

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Speeding, distracted or reckless driving in a work zone is already an offense in Ohio, but some lawmakers want to do more by putting offenders back in the classroom.  

“It's just trying to change the culture,” Rep. Mark Johnson (R-Chillicothe) said. “We have far too many fatalities. We have far too many injuries.”  

“I don't think any text is worth someone's life,” said Bethany Billi, executive director of Laborers Employers Cooperation and Education Trust (LECET).  

Billi said she represents 25,000 men and women who often work on road construction projects.

“They're out there with cars speeding past them and people not paying attention,” she said.

According to the Ohio Department of Transportation, in 2024, there were 8,396 citations for speeding in work zones. That is the highest that number has been in the past five years. 29% of those citations were for going more than 20 mph above the speed limit.  

More than 38% of crashes over the past five years involved speeding, and from 2020 to 2024, there were 8,165 worker injuries -- including 615 that were serious -- and 101 deaths.  

“If you kill someone, just think about how that is going to have a lasting impact on you for the rest of your life,” Billi said. “And is that really worth answering a text about where you're at or what you're doing?”  

House Bill 82 aims to curb that.

It would require that someone who is cited in a work zone take a class within 30 days if they are cited.

“Hopefully [the class] just puts something in your mind where you begin to think and realize somebody's life is at stake,” Rep. Gary Click (R-Vickery) said.  

Those who do not go to the class within 30 days would face a $400 fine, at least. But some members of the Ohio House Public Safety committee, where the bill is being heard, questioned how necessary the bill is and how the cost would be covered.  

“Our current laws already cover all of this,” Rep. Juanita Brent (D-Cleveland) said. “Why are we introducing another bill to address it?”

"What we’re doing is apparently not enough,” Click said.  

And the chair of the Ohio House Public Safety, Cindy Abrams (R-Harrison) said she thinks there is a solution that would work quicker than this bill.

Right now, most work zones have what is called a “detail officer,” paid for by the construction company. Abrams said a second one would be effective.  

“To enforce the speed and the reckless driving and everything else,” she said. “And it works. Cause [drivers] come blowing through and they think ‘ah the detail cop is not going to come out’ but then the backup officer comes out.”  

The bill’s sponsors said they are open to also doing that, but raised the concern that staffing is not always available, as some local police departments are already running thin.  

“We would love to see more of that," Billi said. "It’s just things cost money. More bodies, more money."

And Billi said while workers would like to see even stiffer laws than House Bill 82 offers, any penalty helps.  

“I can talk to you until I'm blue in the face, but unless you get a consequence to your action, a lot of times you don't think about it,” she said.  

The bill is similar to a bill from last general assembly that had harsher penalties. The bill’s sponsors said the harsh penalties from the last rendition was the source of a lot of pushback.

The new bill just had its first hearing this week.