Ohio investing millions in roadway safety, seatbelt campaign

As the Fourth of July holiday weekend begins, Ohio plans to sink hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars into traffic safety.

Gov. Mike DeWine announced Thursday a plan to spend $137.5 million on roadway safety projects around the state, including 55 projects in 41 of Ohio’s 88 counties.

“Ensuring the safety of Ohio's roadways is always one of our top priorities,” DeWine said. “Whether you’re driving or walking, we want every Ohioan to get where they’re going safely.”

Twenty-two of the projects are aimed directly at pedestrian safety by building sidewalks, shared use paths or improvements to crosswalks. DeWine said 125 people were killed in pedestrian-vehicle incidents last year. Fifty people have been killed so far this year.

Five of the projects are expected to target roadway departure crashes by widening shoulders and realigning curves.

Nearly half of all traffic deaths in the state come from roadway departures.

“These targeted, data-driven investments not only improve safety for local communities but strengthen the transportation system across Ohio,” Ohio Department of Transportation Director Pamela Boratyn said. “With the largest highway safety program per capita in the nation, we’re seeing real results—traffic deaths have been declining since 2021.”

The roadway investments come a day after the state announced a new marketing campaign to get more passengers to use seatbelts.

The “Hard Hitter” seatbelt campaign uses football imagery to show the impact of an unbuckled vehicle passenger on another passenger during a crash. At speeds of 50 miles per hour, a crash has the potential to hurl a passenger with eight times the force of a 240-pound linebacker running at full speed, DeWine said.

“Wearing your seatbelt every time you get in a car saves lives,” Lt. Gov. Jim Tressel said. “We hope this campaign helps Ohioans realize that buckling up is serious. As someone who has spent a career watching how hard linebackers can hit, being unbuckled in a crash is worse.”