LOTHIAN — A 61-year-old Shady Side man was killed early Tuesday, Oct. 27, when a pickup truck crossed into his lane on West Bay Front Road and hit his SUV head-on, Anne Arundel County police said.
Paramedics pronounced Joseph Chester Clovis dead at the scene, according to the Anne Arundel County Police Department. The pickup’s driver, a 19-year-old from Tracys Landing, was flown by Maryland State Police helicopter to an area hospital and was listed in stable condition. Police did not release the driver’s name.
Southern District officers were called to the crash near Fishers Station Road at about 6:35 a.m. Police said the preliminary investigation found Clovis was driving a 2011 Hyundai Santa Fe east on West Bay Front Road when a westbound 2019 Ford F-150 crossed the double yellow line and struck it.
The department’s Crash Reconstruction Team responded to the scene and has taken over the investigation. Police did not say whether speed, impairment or distraction played a role, or whether charges are expected. Anyone with information can call the Anne Arundel County Police Department at 410-222-8050.
West Bay Front Road runs through the rural southern end of Anne Arundel County, linking the Lothian area with the bayside communities of Shady Side, Deale and Tracys Landing that both drivers called home. The two-lane roads of South County carry commuters toward Route 4 and Route 2 each morning, and a head-on collision on a road with no median leaves little room for error.
The death comes in a year when Maryland’s road toll has been running lower than in 2025. State Highway Safety Office data showed 213 traffic deaths statewide as of July 20, down from 252 at the same point a year earlier, WTOP reported. Tim Kearns, director of the Highway Safety Office, told the station that speed contributes to nearly a third of deadly crashes in the state and that unbelted occupants account for about half of vehicle occupant deaths.
Residents can now follow those numbers day to day on the state’s new daily crash data dashboard. Earlier this month, a Lusby man was killed when his car left Rousby Hall Road in Calvert County and hit a tree.
