On June 28th, Sandy Johnson Foundation Founder and CEO, Dean Johnson, met with Franklin County Engineer Cornell Robertson, and executive staff to identify the primary obstacle to crash reduction and to offer a solution to that impediment. The meeting was originally scheduled for 60 minutes, but the time was extended an additional hour due to the interest in the topic.
As it turns out, the primary obstacle to crash reduction is the system itself—the system that is currently followed by highway officials in most every state. That system of data collection, annual reviews, and crash site rankings, along with the implementation of site evaluations which search for engineering deficiencies rather than the actual cause of a crash, is the obstacle.
Because the origin of crashes is not the primary purpose of a site study, it is not uncommon for dangerous locations that experience a disproportionately high number of crashes to remain dangerous for years, while crashes continue unabated.
The solution? We recommended following the Highway Safety Initiative (HSI) developed by The Sandy Johnson Foundation: Making Our Roads Safer (SJF). That initiative was developed to help highway officials identify, analyze, and correct dangerous, or potentially dangerous, locations, and to do so in a matter of days, rather than years—which is the current standard.
In keeping with the Mission Statement of the Franklin County Engineer, which states they are “an agency of action, innovation, and collaboration,” Cornell Roberson offered SJF the opportunity to evaluate two sites that are currently under construction, in order to make sure they meet the foundation’s safety standards.
The Sandy Johnson Foundation commends County Engineer Cornell Roberson and the efforts of his office in seeking the tools necessary to keep Ohio’s roadways safe.
For additional updates on this effort, please visit www.sandyjohnsonfoundation.org.
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