Sponsors pitch curriculum, cameras and penalties for work-zone safety in House Bill 82

Representatives Gary Click and Mark Johnson presented House Bill 82 to the Ohio House Public Safety Committee, describing a package of changes aimed at reducing crashes and worker deaths in road and construction work zones.

Sponsors framed the bill around numbers: Ohio’s large highway network, thousands of bridges and a rising number of work-zone crashes and citations. “These are the men and women wearing the hard hats, the reflective vest, carrying the shovels…that I stand before you here today to represent,” Representative Gary Click said, stressing fatalities and injuries suffered by highway maintenance workers.

House Bill 82 would: require driver’s education coursework to include instruction about driving in construction zones; mandate completion of a safety course approved by the Department of Public Safety after a work-zone offense (sponsors said a $400 penalty would apply only if the driver failed to complete the course within 30 days); permit private contractors to install speed-monitoring devices and flashing lights as part of bid specifications; allow ODOT to install video cameras on construction sites and give law enforcement access to recorded footage when investigating alleged violations; and increase penalties for reckless operation in a work zone for repeat or aggravated offenders.

Sponsors emphasized the bill is meant to be educative rather than primarily punitive. Click said the bill’s drafters reduced earlier, larger escalating fines after feedback and now focus on mandatory education after an offense as the deterrent. Committee members asked whether existing Ohio Revised Code provisions already address many of these behaviors; Representative Brent cited several ORC sections (including ORC 4511.12 and related reckless-operation statutes) and asked why a new bill is needed. Sponsors responded that the bill adds education, permissive camera and monitoring authority for contractors and ODOT collaboration, and that the state lacks consistent enforcement and reporting across jurisdictions.

Members also asked about camera costs and whether cameras would automatically issue citations. Sponsors and ODOT representatives said the bill does not authorize automatic citation-by-mail systems; instead, recorded footage would be available to law enforcement during an investigation. Sponsors said contractors would be expected to include camera costs in bids for certain highway projects (mostly interstates and multi-lane highways), not every local job.

Supporters proposed naming the bill for a worker who died in a work zone, and several committee members urged careful review of camera costs and implementation details. No vote occurred at the hearing.