Maryland Drivers Face Up to $1,500 in Fines for Snow-Covered Cars Starting October 1

• Maryland’s “Clear Before You Drive” law takes effect October 1 and requires drivers to clear snow and ice from their vehicle before getting on the road, with fines up to $1,500 when ice flies off and causes injury or damage.
• Senate Bill 698 covers the hood, trunk, windshield, windows and roof of passenger cars, plus the cab of trucks and the top surfaces of trailers and semitrailers.
• Police can only issue a ticket as a secondary offense, meaning an officer has to pull a driver over for something else first before adding this violation.

What the New Law Actually Requires

Governor Wes Moore signed Senate Bill 698, known as the Clear Before You Drive Act, and it goes into effect October 1 alongside a cross-filed companion bill, House Bill 474. The law tells Maryland drivers they cannot operate or tow a vehicle without making a reasonable effort to remove snow and ice first, specifically when leaving it on poses a risk to other drivers on the road.

The list of covered surfaces is specific. For a standard passenger car, that means the hood, trunk, windshield, side and rear windows, and the roof. Trucks carry an added requirement to clear the cab, and trailers and semitrailers must have their top surfaces cleared as well. The law builds in exceptions for situations where clearing snow would put a driver’s own safety at risk, such as reaching an icy roof rack without a ladder, or where doing so would violate a workplace safety rule for commercial drivers operating under federal guidelines.

What a Violation Costs

For a standard noncommercial vehicle, a first violation runs between $25 and $200. Commercial vehicles face a steeper range of $75 to $1,000. Those numbers climb sharply once ice or snow flying off a vehicle causes real harm. If snow or ice comes loose and leads to property damage or a serious injury, fines for noncommercial drivers rise to $200 to $1,000, and commercial operators can be fined $500 to $1,500.

The law limits how often a single driver can be cited in one day. A person cannot be found in violation more than once in any 24-hour period, so a driver won’t face repeat fines for the same uncleared vehicle across multiple stops in a single morning commute. Enforcement is also limited by design. Maryland classified this as a secondary offense, meaning police cannot pull a driver over solely for having snow on their car. An officer has to already be stopping the driver for something else, such as a lane violation or an expired tag, before this citation can be added to the ticket.

Why Maryland Passed This Now

Maryland joins a growing list of states writing specific penalties for flying snow and ice into law, after years of relying on general reckless driving statutes that didn’t map cleanly onto the problem. New Jersey fines drivers $25 to $75 for a basic violation, rising to $200 to $1,000 when ice causes damage or injury. Connecticut sets its base fine at $75, with a $200 minimum once damage occurs. Pennsylvania’s version, known as Christine’s Law and named for a woman killed by flying ice, carries fines up to $1,500 for truck drivers whose cargo sheds ice into traffic. New Hampshire has a similar statute named Jessica’s Law after a 20-year-old killed when ice shed off a trailer struck the vehicle she was riding in.

Other states with some version of a snow and ice removal requirement include Alabama, Georgia, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin, though the specific fine amounts and enforcement rules vary widely from one state to the next. Maryland’s fine structure lands close to the middle of that group, higher than New Jersey’s base penalty but roughly in line with Pennsylvania’s top tier for injury-causing incidents.

AAA Mid-Atlantic testified in support of SB 698 in the legislative session, pointing to the same pattern seen in neighboring states: a sheet of ice coming off a moving vehicle’s roof or hood behaves like a projectile, capable of cracking a windshield or striking a following driver with no time to react. Maryland’s roads see regular winter storms across the DC suburbs, the Baltimore corridor and the Eastern Shore, and lawmakers pointed to the gap in prior state law, which offered no clear, specific charge for this exact hazard, leaving officers to rely on broader negligent driving statutes that didn’t always fit.

What To Do Before Winter Arrives

Drivers don’t need special equipment to comply. A basic ice scraper with a brush attachment handles most of what the law requires: hood, trunk, windshield, windows and roof. For a roof loaded with heavy snow, a long-handled snow rake designed to pull snow down from ground level, rather than climbing onto the vehicle, is worth keeping in a garage or trunk through the winter months. Waiting on the defrost alone to clear a windshield often means driving with a small cleared patch and stacks of snow still sitting on the roof and hood, exactly the scenario this law targets.

Commercial drivers and fleet operators face the highest exposure under the law, given the steeper fine range and the added requirement to clear trailer and semitrailer tops. Fleet managers running routes through Maryland should build a pre-trip snow and ice check into existing inspection routines rather than treating it as a separate task, as a missed roof on a box truck or trailer carries real financial risk once the new fines take hold this winter.

For drivers who park outside overnight in a storm, allowing extra time before leaving is the simplest way to avoid a rushed, incomplete clearing job. A five-minute head start to clear a roof properly costs far less than a $200 fine, and considerably less than the $1,000 to $1,500 range that applies once flying ice causes damage to another driver’s vehicle or a physical injury.

Who Enforces It and How a Ticket Gets Written

The law being a secondary offense rather than a standalone stop means most citations will likely originate from routine traffic enforcement rather than officers actively hunting for uncleared vehicles. A driver stopped for a broken taillight, an expired registration sticker or a rolling stop could find a snow and ice citation added to that interaction if their vehicle is still carrying a dangerous load of ice or snow at the time. That structure mirrors how Maryland already handles some seatbelt and cell phone violations for certain drivers, where the underlying offense has to piggyback on a separate stop rather than standing alone.

Insurance implications remain limited for a first violation. Unlike a moving violation such as speeding, a citation under SB 698 is a civil infraction rather than a points-bearing offense, so a single ticket for an uncleared windshield is unlikely by itself to move a driver’s premium. That calculation changes quickly once the higher fine tier applies: a citation tied to actual property damage or injury opens the driver up to liability claims well beyond the fine itself, including repair costs for another driver’s vehicle or a windshield replacement for the car behind them.

What Happens Next

The law takes effect October 1, well ahead of Maryland’s typical first snowfall, giving drivers a full season to adjust their routine before enforcement becomes relevant on the ground. The offense being secondary means actual citation numbers in year one will likely stay modest compared with states where officers can stop a driver for snow alone. The clearer test will come the first time a windshield-cracking or injury-causing incident tied to flying ice ends up in a Maryland courtroom under the new statute, as that’s where the higher fine tier and the law’s practical reach will get their first real test with a judge.

Sources:

• Patch: 8 New Maryland Laws Take Effect On Oct. 1, 2026
• Maryland General Assembly: Senate Bill 698
• Land Line Media: States Crack Down on Motorists Who Don’t Clear Snow and Ice