The Route 210 "Highway of Death": Why Maryland's Most Dangerous Road Got Its Own Speed Camera Law

Maryland Route 210, also known as Indian Head Highway, runs about 20 miles through Prince George's County connecting Washington, DC to the southern Maryland suburbs. It is a wide, divided highway — the kind of road that feels fast even when you are trying to go slow.

Since 2007, 91 people have died on this stretch of road. Local safety advocates have long called it the "Highway of Death," and the data supports the name.

In 2025, after three years of failed attempts, the Maryland General Assembly finally passed legislation specifically targeting Route 210 with escalating speed camera fines. The story of how that happened — and why it took so long — reveals a lot about how speed camera enforcement actually works in Maryland, and where it breaks down.

The Numbers That Forced Action

Route 210 carries roughly 80,000 vehicles per day. It is a critical commuter artery between DC and communities like Fort Washington, Oxon Hill, and Indian Head. The road is relatively straight with long sightlines, which encourages speed.

The speed camera data from Route 210 is extraordinary. Between August and October 2023, cameras on the corridor recorded 204 drivers exceeding 100 mph. One vehicle was clocked at 170 mph in a 55 mph zone. In a four-month period, more than 1,100 repeat offenders were cited — including one driver who received more than 60 individual speed camera citations.

Under the old system, each of those 60 citations cost $40. That is $2,400 total for a pattern of driving that could have killed someone on every single trip. For many repeat offenders, the flat fine was simply not enough to change behavior.

Three Years of Failed Legislation

Maryland first authorized speed cameras on Route 210 in 2018 — initially just a single camera, with three mobile units approved the following year. That was already unusual: speed cameras in Maryland are normally restricted to school zones and work zones, so the legislature had to specifically authorize their use on this corridor.

The cameras worked, to a point. Average speeds dropped near the camera locations. But the most dangerous drivers — the ones exceeding 100 mph — were barely affected. A $40 ticket every few days was noise to someone willing to drive 170 on a public highway.

Starting in 2023, the 210 Traffic Safety Committee, led by local residents and safety advocates, began pushing for legislation to increase fines. The Rev. Robert Screen, a former hospital chaplain who worked near Route 210, described hearing the screams of families learning that a loved one had died in a crash on the highway. "It gets in your bone marrow; it doesn't leave," he told an audience at a Prince George's County arts center.

The first bill failed. The second bill failed. It was not until the 2025 session — after yet another year of fatal crashes on the corridor — that House Bill 349 finally passed.

What the New Law Does

HB 349 created a dedicated tiered fine structure specifically for speed camera violations on Route 210 in Prince George's County. The fines scale with speed, reaching a maximum of $425 for drivers traveling 40 or more mph over the posted limit.

But fines alone were not the only tool in the bill. The legislation also expanded the number of cameras permitted on the corridor (previously capped at six) and strengthened the county's ability to pursue enforcement.

Prince George's County has since pushed even further with PG 306-26, a separate bill that would authorize the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration to suspend vehicle registrations for unpaid Route 210 speed camera violations. Under the proposal, if a vehicle accumulates three or more unpaid or uncontested citations within a 90-day period, the MVA would be required to suspend the vehicle's registration — with written notice and the right to a hearing before the suspension takes effect.

Why Route 210 Matters Beyond PG County

The Route 210 story illustrates a broader challenge with automated speed enforcement. Cameras are effective at reducing average speeds and catching occasional violators. They are much less effective at deterring the most dangerous drivers — the ones who ignore dozens of tickets because the fine is a fraction of their income, or because they know the citation carries no points and no immediate consequences.

Maryland's new statewide tiered fines (which took effect October 1, 2025) address part of this problem. But Route 210 needed its own legislation because the stakes were higher, the speeds were more extreme, and the flat-fine system had demonstrably failed to protect the people who live, work, and commute along the corridor.

The question for the rest of Maryland is whether the Route 210 model — escalating fines paired with registration enforcement for repeat offenders — will eventually expand to other dangerous corridors. Advocates are watching to see how the new fines affect driver behavior on the highway. If fatalities drop, expect to see similar proposals for other high-crash roads in the state.

The Human Cost

Behind the statistics are people. Ten people died on Route 210 in 2022 alone. Since 2019, there have been 29 fatal crashes on the PG County segment, including 16 involving pedestrians. These are not highway-speed interstate collisions — many are local residents trying to cross a road that was designed for cars, not people.

The 210 Traffic Safety Committee continues to push for infrastructure changes beyond cameras: better lighting, pedestrian bridges, median barriers, and redesigned intersections. Speed cameras are one tool, but the road itself was built in an era when the primary design goal was moving vehicles as quickly as possible.

For now, the cameras are the enforcement mechanism that exists, and the new fines are the strongest deterrent that has been legislated. Whether $425 succeeds where $40 failed remains to be seen.