Between August 2023 and October 2026, roadside inspectors in Maryland recorded 299,921 violations across 230,718 inspections. Of those violations, 78,186 were out-of-service. Those three figures are the foundation for everything useful I can say about the state. The rate people tend to quote is the least informative of the set. The full state breakdown is on the Maryland state insights page.
Start with the raw counts
I look at counts before rates for a practical reason. A rate built on a small denominator can look dramatic, and one built on a large denominator can look calm. Maryland's sample is big enough that the pattern is hard to wave away.
The state's headline 26.1 figure is out-of-service violations divided by all violations: 78,186 out of 299,921. If you divide out-of-service violations by inspections instead, you get roughly 33.9 per 100 inspections. The same arithmetic on national totals (2,268,984 out-of-service violations across 8,042,912 inspections) gives about 28.2 per 100. The national violation-based rate is 17.6.
Those are different denominators answering different questions. Be clear about which one you're quoting.
Violations per inspection
Maryland averages 1.3 violations per inspection. Nationally, the same division gives about 1.6. Maryland inspections are not producing more write-ups than the national mix. The difference shows up in what happens to those write-ups: a larger share of them end out of service. That points to severity and enforcement outcome, not to a higher volume of problems.
Drivers versus vehicles
Splitting the totals makes the picture more specific.
On the driver side, Maryland recorded 57,670 violations, 19,006 of them out-of-service, about 33.0%. Nationally the driver-side share is about 24.1% (565,351 of 2,344,141).
On the vehicle side, Maryland recorded 169,758 violations, 59,180 of them out-of-service, about 34.9%. Nationally that share is about 24.0% (1,703,633 of 7,100,282).
Both halves run high. The vehicle side carries most of the out-of-service volume: 59,180 of the 78,186 total. Whatever is driving Maryland's out-of-service load is mainly equipment-related, not driver-related. That is a more useful starting question than "is Maryland strict?"
Hazmat: small numbers, sharp gap
Hazmat is where the gap looks largest and the evidence is thinnest. Maryland recorded 871 hazmat violations, 356 of them out-of-service, about 40.9%. The national hazmat share is about 26.6% (15,088 of 56,752).
With a count this small, one or two inspection events can move the percentage a lot. I treat it as a flag to investigate, not a finding.
Why a high rate isn't a verdict
An out-of-service call is an inspector's judgment on a specific item at a specific moment. It is not an audit of a company's safety program. A few things I'd keep in mind before drawing conclusions:
- Enforcement practice and inspection targeting vary by place and by time. A higher out-of-service share can reflect what inspectors looked for, not only what they found.
- Aggregate state numbers blend very different carriers. A high share can come from a handful of repeat problem operators or from a broad, small pattern. The totals can't separate those.
- The window here is 39 months. Before calling anything a trend, I'd split the period and check whether the rate is moving or just averaging out.
What I'd check next
If I were working this dataset for a carrier or a compliance team, I would do three things. Break the vehicle-side out-of-service items into their categories to see which equipment problems dominate. Compare the first and last parts of the window to test for direction. And look at the hazmat count again once it's larger, or pair it with other evidence before acting on it.
The numbers don't tell you what to do. They tell you where to aim the question. If you want to explore the same counts for Maryland or compare them against neighboring states, the map puts the state side by side with national figures, and the full set of state insights covers the rest of the country.
Key takeaways
- Maryland recorded 299,921 violations and 78,186 out-of-service violations across 230,718 inspections (Aug 2023 – Oct 2026).
- Out-of-service violations are about 26.1% of all violations in Maryland, versus 17.6% nationally.
- The driver-side and vehicle-side out-of-service shares are both above the national figures, with the vehicle side carrying most of the volume.
- The hazmat gap is large but based on only 871 violations, so treat it as a lead, not a conclusion.
- A high out-of-service share describes what inspectors found on the roadside. It doesn't by itself describe a company's overall safety record.