March 2004

Colonel Paul McClellan
Superintendent
Ohio State Highway Patrol

The safest road outside of an urban area is an interstate; the most dangerous road inside an urban area is an interstate. In fact, four metro areas in Ohio represent 20 percent of the state’s traffic deaths and most of them occur on urban interstates.

That brings us to a crossroad in the state of Ohio. We are living in a time where the engineering of our vehicles, the engineering of our roadways, the education of the public, and the public acceptance of the notion that automobile crash deaths are preventable, puts the Ohio State Highway Patrol in a place to help reduce the amount of crashes occurring on Ohio’s roadways.

Understanding that dynamic, how can the Patrol make a difference? OhioSafe Commute provides that opportunity. The Ohio Department of Public Safety and the Department of Transportation and the Patrol have developed a nationally unique and innovative approach to reducing crash fatalities. The Division will not reach the goal of achieving a fatality rate of one per 100 million vehicle miles traveled by 2007 unless crash rates are decreased in Ohio’s large, urban counties.

OhioSafe Commute strives to correct poor driving behavior on identified problem interstate corridors through state and local law enforcement presence and public awareness. Traffic is closely monitored and crashes are removed quickly in order to reduce the number of secondary crashes and allow traffic to return to a reasonable speed.
Law enforcement officers are placed along Ohio’s busiest highways when and where crashes typically occur. Officers are visible as an attempt to keep traffic at a safe speed to prevent crashes. In addition, they employ “quick clear” techniques to prevent secondary crashes.

OhioSafe Commute has already shown success. Last November, OhioSafe Commute kicked off the first evaluation phase targeting five high-crash locations in and around Columbus. During the first 45 days of the program, there were no major injury or fatal crashes or major backups on any of the corridors during rush hour or other hours when OhioSafe Commute was in effect.

A second phase of OhioSafe Commute in Columbus is being implemented in March and April. At the end of that period, the partners will analyze the crash and speed data and evaluate the overall effectiveness of the programs before implementing it in four other Ohio cities.

It’s about safety!