OCEAN CITY, Md. - The Town of Ocean City is entering a Special Event Zone period until May 3, as the 36th Cruisin' Ocean City nears, bringing reduced speed limits and enhanced penalties.
With thousands on the way to Ocean City to enjoy one of the largest car shows on the coast, the town is taking various measures to promote safety throughout town.
Warning signs are lit up across Ocean City notifying drivers, and pedestrians of the Special Event Zone being in effect.Â
The 36th Cruisin' Ocean City will run from April 30 to May 3, holding events at both the Ocean City Inlet lot and the Convention Center. That in mind, the town is reducing speed limits, increasing fines for traffic violations, with certain offenses carrying enhanced penalties, such as arrest.
For previous Cruisin' OC events, the town has reduced the speed limits in residential areas to 30 miles per hour. The town says Coastal Highway and Philadelphia Avenue will see a 30 miles per hour speed limit during this period.
During those dates, parking enforcement will also be stricter in restricted areas, which can be marked by red curbs.
Those who are caught committing traffic violations such as speeding will see doubled fines, according to the town.
Herbert says those who break rules will simply not be allowed back to the Cruisin' Ocean City events moving forward.Â
Community members such as Russ Dennis think these rules are just about the Benjamins.
"It just seems like the greed is overwhelming," Dennis tells CoastTV. "I was in the State Police for a long time, and there are times where they don't want to lose that income, and they're told if it's not really a major thing, just leave 'em go. I mean, you can see 'em at a stoplight, and that's not really fair."
But for Cruisin' Ocean City organizers such as Meredith Herbert, she says a lot has gone into making sure this is a safe weekend.
"Safety has always been our number one priority," Herbert says. "We've had meetings with the town as part of the task force, as well as we've had meetings with the Ocean City police department, just so that we can all come up with a game plan and make sure that we're all on the same page."
Herbert notes that this meet is not in any way related to the H20i pop-up car rallies that have taken place in Ocean City in previous years. The town tells CoastTV that the vandalism and unsafe driving they saw during the H20i car meets played a massive role in creating these Special Event Zone regulations to utilize at large events moving forward.Â
