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S 2998Roads & Highways

Highways - Construction and Maintenance of State Roads

Requires road work contractors to use crash trucks with cameras to record traffic and accidents involving construction workers.

Held for study
Population
Affected
35
Email Legislator
Introduced Mar 4, 2026Committee Senate Special Legislation and Veterans Affairs

Plain-English Summary

This legislation requires all contractors performing state road or bridge work to implement a traffic monitoring plan by January 1, 2027. Specifically, contractors must have a crash truck or attenuator truck on-site equipped with operating cameras that record traffic in the direction of the work zone. If an accident results in injury or death to a worker, the video footage must be provided to the State Police and Attorney General to assist in identifying the driver and determining fault. Failure to comply can result in fines, imprisonment, and suspension from state contracting.

For younger readers

This new rule says that when companies are fixing roads or bridges, they must have a special safety truck parked nearby. This truck must have a camera turned on to film the cars driving by. If a car crashes and hurts a worker, the police will use the video to see what happened and find the driver. If the bosses of the road crew do not have the truck and camera working, they can get in trouble, have to pay money, or even go to jail.

Who & Where It Applies

Impacted groups
Construction ContractorsRoad Construction WorkersRhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT)Motor Vehicle DriversRhode Island State Police
Impacted communities
All

Constitutional & Fiscal Check

None Likely

Estimated cost
Amount unknown
Estimated revenue
Amount unknown

Bill Analysis

Both viewpoints
For Progressives
  • Enhances workplace safety protections for laborers and construction workers by mandating equipment that documents dangerous incidents and incentivizes safer driving near work zones.
  • Ensures accountability for drivers who harm workers by providing indisputable video evidence to law enforcement, preventing perpetrators from evading justice.
  • Imposes strict liability and significant penalties on corporations and contractors who fail to provide necessary safety equipment, prioritizing worker welfare over cost-cutting measures.
  • Expands the surveillance state by mandating government-accessible video recording on public roadways, which raises concerns about privacy and data retention.
  • Utilizes the criminal justice system to address regulatory compliance, potentially leading to incarceration for procedural failures rather than focusing on restorative or administrative remedies.
  • The costs associated with the mandated equipment and potential legal risks may be passed down to taxpayers or result in lower wages for non-unionized workers to offset overhead.
For Conservatives
  • Strengthens law and order by providing law enforcement with concrete video evidence to prosecute reckless drivers who injure people or damage property.
  • Holds negligent parties personally accountable for their actions, ensuring that those who violate safety contracts face consequences rather than just corporate fines.
  • Protects the sanctity of life by deterring negligence in high-risk environments, ensuring that investigations into fatalities are thorough and fact-based.
  • Imposes heavy-handed government regulations on private businesses, dictating specific equipment usage and increasing the cost of doing business.
  • Criminalizes business owners with felony charges and potential jail time for regulatory or administrative oversights, which is viewed as severe government overreach.
  • Grants the state the power to bar private companies from contracts for up to five years, potentially destroying businesses and jobs due to bureaucratic non-compliance.

Votes

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Full Bill Text

Changes to existing Rhode Island law · 33 additions

SECTION 1. Chapter 24-8 of the General Laws entitled "Construction and Maintenance of State Roads" is hereby amended by adding thereto the following section: 24-8-4.3. Traffic control – Use of crash truck - Cameras.

(a) Effective January 1, 2027, all contractors performing work on any project for the Rhode Island department of transportation (RIDOT), Rhode Island turnpike and bridge authority (RITBA) or any other road or bridge work in this state, shall have in place a traffic monitoring plan, which shall be filed with RIDOT and/or RITBA as part of any bid or contract relative to the contract or work being performed. As part of the traffic control plan, a contractor shall have on site a crash truck/attenuator truck as referred to in § 24-8-4.2 which shall include traffic monitoring cameras. The crash truck/attenuator truck shall be in place and the camera operational during any time in which construction of maintenance work is being undertaken on any state highway and/or interstate connector.

(b) The crash truck/attenuator truck shall be equipped with at least one camera facing oncoming traffic if the work being performed is on a divided highway and, if not a divided highway, a camera facing in both directions of any roadway on which the work is being performed.

(c) In the event any motor vehicle accident occurs at the work site and any state employee or construction worker is injured or killed while engaged in the road work, a copy of all videos generated from the cameras shall be provided to the Rhode Island state police and the department of attorney general for purposes of identifying the operator of the vehicle, determining the cause of the accident and shall be used in the course of any investigation and the prosecution of any person determined to be at fault, whether through negligence, recklessness or deliberate conduct. (d)(1) Every person/contractor convicted of a first violation of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to imprisonment for not more than one year and/or a fine of not less than five hundred dollars ($500) nor more than one thousand dollars ($1,000);

(2) Every person/contractor convicted of a second violation within a five (5) year period, shall be guilty of a felony and subject to imprisonment for not more than two (2) years and/or a fine of not less than one thousand dollars ($1,000);

(3) Every person/contractor convicted of a third or subsequent violation within a five (5) year period, shall be guilty of a felony and subject to imprisonment for not more than five (5) years and/or a fine of two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500).

(e) Every person/contractor who violates the provisions of this section may be barred from contracting with the state and/or performing any construction or maintenance work on any RIDOT, RITBA or other road or bridge work in this state for a period of up to five (5) years.

(f) Nothing contained in subsections (c) or (d) of this section shall limit the civil liability of any person or contractor for violations of this section.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect on January 1, 2027.