Statement Regarding Recent State Highway Administration Deaths

The following statement can be attributed to AFSCME Local 6368 President Wiley Rhymer, a Facility Maintenance Supervisor at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI):

In less than a week, the State of Maryland has gotten two of its own workers killed.

Dipakkumar Patel was 70 years old and a member of an AFSCME bargaining unit. He was sitting in a marked MDOT vehicle, doing exactly what he was told to do, when he was rear-ended and killed on US 13. Just days before that, Robert W. Dempsey, also part of an AFSCME bargaining unit, was killed on I-495.

Stop calling this a tragedy like it fell out of the sky. This is failure. Loud, repeated, deadly failure by the State of Maryland.

You can wear the vest, set the cones, sit in a marked car, follow every rule in the book and still die on these roads. That’s the reality the State keeps sending workers into. Not because they don’t know better, but because they haven’t done enough to fix it.

Two deaths in the same week isn’t bad luck. It’s what happens when leadership drags its feet, cuts corners, and treats safety like a suggestion instead of a requirement.

Let’s be clear: the State knew the risks. They’ve known for years that work zones are war zones. Drivers speed. Drivers ignore the Move Over Law. Crews are left exposed. Enforcement is weak. Protections are outdated.

And still, nothing changes until somebody dies. Then it’s press releases and condolences, and right back to the same dangerous conditions. That cycle is deadly. And it’s owned by the State of Maryland. AFSCME Local 6368 is done being polite about it. The State's inaction is killing workers.

We’re not asking anymore. We’re demanding:
Aggressive, zero-excuse enforcement of work zone laws
Real physical protection for workers barriers, not just barrels
Full staffing so no crew is left exposed
Accountability at every level for the decisions that led here

Because right now, “essential worker” in Maryland means expendable. The State needs to fix this immediately, or stop pretending they value the people who keep this state running.

The following statement can be attributed to AFSCME Maryland Council 3 President Patrick Moran:

Our union is mourning again – this time, we remember Dipakkumar Patel, who was killed while simply doing his job on the side of US-13. We’re angry that just days after the death of another MDOT worker Robert W. Dempsey, we find ourselves in the same situation. Time and time again, state workers have brought up urgent health and safety concerns, only to be dismissed by every level of agency and state leadership. At a time when state workers are battling dangerously low staffing levels, increasingly more hazards on the job, and compensation that is nowhere close to a fair wage for the work they do, this treatment is unacceptable. Both of these tragedies are a result of failures by the State of Maryland. How many more state workers need to lose their lives before enough is enough?

About AFSCME Maryland Council 3
AFSCME Maryland Council 3 represents nearly 50,000 public service workers in local, city, county and state government as well as in higher education and the private sector who provide the valuable public services that our communities rely on. From Western Maryland to the Eastern Shore, we make Maryland happen.

AFSCME Local 6368 represents hundreds of state supervisors who work for the Maryland Department of Transportation, including the Maryland Aviation Administration, Maryland Port Administration, Motor Vehicle Administration, State Highway Administration, Maryland Transit Administration, Maryland Transportation Authority, and the Transportation Secretary’s Office.