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Did you know that Maryland has speed cameras? Evidently, more than 48,000 people have already found out the hard way in just two months. While the state’s photo enforcement program started with simple red light cameras more than two decades ago, it’s well on the way to becoming one of the most notorious electronic speeding enforcement regimes in the country despite being one of just a handful (alongside the District of Columbia) that allow the practice at all .

For a while, Maryland lawmakers resisted the urge to go crazy with new enforcement techniques, but it wasn’t to last. Within the past decade, the state has expanded its camera-based enforcement to not only include additional permanent locations, but has also authorized its use for keeping speeds in check in construction zones—whether those zones are active or not.

Starting this year, Maryland adopted a new tiered work zone fines which not only scale with driver speeds, but double when there are workers present, with a maximum fine of $1,000 for those going 40 mph over (or more) in an active construction zone. And remember, nobody’s getting pulled over; violators simply get their infraction notice in the mail.

On spec, the increased fines when workers are present make sense, but I’m still at a loss as to how Maryland can justify 24/7 enforcement of construction zone speed limits even when no workers are around. Even taking into account the fact that traffic patterns can change and lanes can narrow while work is in progress (actively or otherwise), most highway construction is no more constricting than many Mid-Atlantic freeways on their best days. And I know that, because I’ve spent a lot of time driving on them.

See, I was born in the great state of Maryland, and I evidently picked the right time to leave. Even before I jumped ship in 2016, Maryland was already on the speed camera bandwagon. It started more than 15 years ago with permanent cameras that operated in active school zones . They first appeared in and around Baltimore and the Washington, D.C. suburbs, but later made their way to virtually every municipality in the state.

There’s one component of Maryland’s camera-based enforcement laws that strictly benefits drivers: Camera locations must be publicly announced and marked. That’s why Maryland lists all of its active speed enforcement zones on the web —and why signs indicating that work zones are “Photo Enforced” must be posted in advance of each active zone. Flashing lights turn on while zones are active, to indicate that doubled fines are in effect.

Of the 48,000 citations issued over the course of two months, 23 of them were $1,000 fines, meaning they occurred with workers present, and the drivers in question were traveling at least 40 mph over the posted limit, per FOX Baltimore .