Ohio got good grades for its distracted driving law and for having traffic camera laws, though many communities don’t use them, from a national group that studies road safety. But the state got warning lights for a lack of other legislation that the organization says Ohio needs to help drivers and passengers stay safe.
Ohio was among 36 states that got the “yellow” or “caution” rating from Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, a coalition of consumer, health, insurance and law enforcement groups that lobbies for more road safety laws. Eight states got “green” or “good” ratings in the report, and nine states got “red” or “danger” ratings.
Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety's annual report said 11,903 people have died in crashes in Ohio in the last ten years; 1,160 people were killed on Ohio roads last year.
“That's a significant number," said Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety president Cathy Chase in an interview. "We have the proven solutions in this roadmap report that, if Ohio implements it, we know could be saving lives in terms of improving occupant protection, child passenger safety, teen driving and alcohol laws.”
The group estimates the economic cost of motor vehicle crashes in Ohio each year at $12.1 billion.
Ohio was dinged for not having a motorcycle helmet law or laws requiring babies to sit in rear facing car seats or for kids under 12 in the back seat. But Chase said she’s perhaps most interested in seeing laws that require seat belt use.
"Considering that approximately half of all people who are killed in motor vehicle crashes are unbuckled, having a primary enforcement seatbelt law for all occupants of the vehicle is really crucial, because a seatbelt is your first line of defense when you're in a crash," Chase said.
The group also slammed Ohio for its laws on young drivers. The two-year budget that went into effect this summer requires driver education classes for anyone under 21, with Gov. Mike DeWine saying those courses help young people become safer drivers. But Chase said her group would rather see a higher minimum age for a learner's permit, an increase to 70 hours of supervised driving, and restrictions for young drivers on night driving and the number of passengers allowed in cars with them.
"There's not conclusive evidence showing that driver's ed is impactful, and the reason is because there could be one excellent driver's ed program and then one substandard one," Chase said. "So instead of focusing on driver's ed, we focus on the provisions in graduated driver licensing that have been proven to make the roads safer for teen drivers as they learn how to get behind the wheel."
