H2Oi, other Ocean City car events target of two new bills

Delegate Mary Beth Carozza and state Sen. Jim Mathias have introduced bills in their respective chambers of the Maryland General Assembly that could alter the way events such as Cruisin' and H2O International are handled in Ocean City.

The idea for the bill came out of the town's Motor Events Task Force, which was created to explore ways to lessen the impact of these events, said Rick Meehan, Ocean City mayor.

"We were looking for ways to improve the events and mitigate problems we were having," he said. "One solution would be to create a special event zone similar to a work zone where you can raise fines and add points to take control."

The two bills co-filed with one another would allow the State Highway Administration to create designated zones during special road events similar to work zones. These zones could carry a lower speed limit and would carry with it higher fines and the possibility of points added to licenses.

For both bills, a "special event" includes a vehicle show, boat show, or outdoor recreation show, a festival, fair, or carnival, parades, circuses, concerts, block parties, and fireworks display. It would have special event zones marked by warning signs or other traffic control devices that designate a special event is in progress.

Both bills, too, would allow the State High Administration to — either on its own initiative or at the request of a local authority — designate an area on a state highway, such as Coastal Highway, as a special event zone and reduce establish speed limits in the zone after a determination that the change is needed to ensure public safety.

READ MORE: Cruisin' car event officially coming back to Ocean City

Similar to the State Highway Administration provision, both bills would allow local authorities to designate an area on a highway under its jurisdiction as a special event zone and reduce established speed limits after it is determined the change is needed to protect public safety.

Both bills would ban reckless driving, aggressive driving, racing, spinning wheels and excessive noise.

For any person who breaks one of these laws, the bills call for one year in prison, a fine to not exceed $1,000 or both for the first offense and up to two years in prison, a fine not to exceed $1,000 or both for second offenses.

Any person who causes bodily harm to another person would face up to three years in prison, a fine not to exceed $5,000 or both.

Any accident in the special event zone that results in the death in another person would lead to imprisonment for up to 10 years, a fine not to exceed $5,000 or both.

Sen. Mathias and Delegate Carozza could be reached for comment

The bills had the unanimous support of the task force, Meehan said, and Ocean City spoke with both Carozza and Mathias about introducing the bills, and both agreed to help out.

"We have support from the Ocean City Police Department and other law enforcement agencies as well as the State Highway Administration," Meehan said. "We think it's important. There is no magic wand, but if we can address these issues individually it can take care of some of these issues and make the events even better."

READ MORE: H2Oi, Cruisin’: Officials weigh fines, other venues amid 'mayhem'

Included in the task force is Bob Rothermel, event organizer the two Cruisin' shows.

Rothermel said he has encouraged the town to create legislation to create this special event district.

"In prior years, we encouraged the town to make the entire town a construction zone so fines could double," he said. "Anything that can be done to give them a tool to maintain public safety is always a good thing."

In November 2017, the Ocean City Police Commission presented the town council a "motor events racing matrix," which scored each of the town's six major car events in nine categories, with one being a good rating and five being bad.

Cruisin' and H2Oi received the worst ratings, with a four or higher in behavior of non-event attendees, behavior of roadside crowds, level of law enforcement required, desired demographics, requirement of backfill business, adverse social media impact and pedestrian endangerment.

During the 2017 Endless Summer Cruisin' event, which took place from Oct. 5-8, Ocean City saw at least two major pedestrian accidents.

In 2016, Ocean City Cruisin', the event's spring iteration, saw two fatalities — the death of a Germantown man whose motorcycle crashed into a pickup truck and the death of a Pennsylvania man who fell form a hotel balcony.

A year prior, a Millersville man faced six traffic violations after he was caught on video performing doughnuts in the middle of the highway.

READ MORE: In chase, driver avoids spike strips at bridge-tunnel

At H2Oi in 2017, statistics show law enforcement responded to more than 2,700 calls for service, conducted more than 1,200 traffic stops and made 78 total arrests during the event.

There were also double the number of traffic collisions compared to the previous year’s event.

That weekend also saw two law enforcement officers struck by a car driven by an 18-year-old man from Seaford who was trying to evade arrest, and a 26-year-old pedestrian from Connecticut struck by an Ocean City police marked patrol car making a left turn.

A video of at least one Ocean City officer striking a suspect as he was being arrested during the unofficial H2Oi gathering also made the rounds on social media in the wake of the weekend's activity. 

Unlawful activity is unlawful activity, Rothermel said, and the proposed zones would add to the enjoyment of participants, spectators and residents.

There is already an extensive law enforcement presence during events such as Cruisin' and H2Oi, Meehan said, but putting higher fines on traffic violations would reduce the number of violations and, overall, reduce the amount of law enforcement officers needed.

"We have events like H2Oi where getting a $40 ticket as seen as a badge of honor," Meehan said. "If the fine is double or triple that, we hope it will deter things like that from happening in the first place."

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