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Ohio officials continue to find ways to make driving safer. Enforcement began months ago on the distracted driving law that makes it illegal to use or hold a cell phone or electronic device in your hand, lap, or other parts of the body while driving. Now the Ohio Department of Transportation is installing "state of the art technology" at 13 sites across the state to try to reduce serious crashes.
According to a report by WKYC, automated traffic queue warning systems will be installed to alert drivers of slow or stopped traffic.
"The advanced cameras monitoring live traffic that feed into ODOT's Traffic Management Center will detect in real time when traffic is slowing down and backing up," Gov. Mike DeWine said Thursday according to WKYC. "The technology will then immediately turn on a digital message warning drivers approximately two miles back of the upcoming slow down."
ODOT believes such alerts will reduce the number of rear-end crashes on Ohio highways by approximately 16%.
There will be three sites in northeast Ohio -- Cuyahoga and Summit counties; six in central Ohio -- Licking and Franklin counties; and four in southwest Ohio -- Hamilton and Greene counties. Residents of some other regions of the state may be wondering why they have been left off the list of those receiving safety measures.
"These 13 sites were picked based upon the data that we have that indicates they are the most likely places to have serious rear-end crashes," DeWine said.
Rush-hour traffic backups and the number and severity of previous rear-end crashes had a lot to do with the choice of sites, as officials are hoping to prevent incidents such as the Tuscarawas Valley charter bus crash that killed six people in November. ODOT seems to be on the right track with the alert system. Should it prove as effective as the data predicts, officials must examine whether it is worth expanding.