White cars improve visibility

The cars will appear gradually as patrol posts exchange gray cars for 2003 models.
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
Motorists won't begin to see white Ohio State Highway Patrol cars on Mahoning Valley highways until spring.
OSHP officials announced last week they will change the color of the cars from charcoal gray to white in hopes that motorists will see the cars more clearly. The gray cars blend in with the roads during the day and are difficult to see at night, they said.
"It's definitely a safety issue," said Lt. George Williams, commander of the Warren post of the OSHP. Most of the troopers at his post favor the change, he said. "We're looking forward to it."
Remembering white
Lt. William G. Thompson Jr., commander of the Lisbon post, believes the white cars will be more visible. He drove white cars as a trooper, and said motorists noticed when the patrol changed to silver cars in 1983.
After traffic stops some motorists noted the silver cars were more difficult to see, and remarked that, "Now you guys can sneak up on us."
Lt. Brian Girts, commander of the Canfield post, quashed the notion that the patrol will have the current cars repainted. He said that's the question he's been asked by citizens since the patrol officials in Columbus announced the change.
He said the white cars will appear gradually as posts in the Mahoning Valley and across Ohio exchange their 2002 Ford Crown Victorias for 2003 Crown Victorias. He said post commanders usually turn in vehicles when they reach the 90,000-mile mark, which usually takes about a year.
The cars were white from 1976 to 1983. The were changed to silver in 1983, and to the current charcoal in 1993.
Girts lamented he is the only one on his post old enough to have driven a white patrol car previously.
"Most of the guys here are too young to remember the white cars," he said. He believes white cars are more visible at night than the charcoal or silver models.
New lights
Girts said along with the color change, the new cruisers will have new lights, also designed for better visibility. He and other post commanders said they've heard reports that during night driving some road weary motorists were actually drawn toward the rear of a cruiser because of the way the current lights are mounted.
Trooper Ken Metz of the Lisbon post was part of a committee of troopers who tested the white cars for visibility. He said the group recommended the white cars and that the markings on the cars be gray. The patrol command has the final say in such matters, he said.
Metz said troopers tested the cars at the OSHP academy in Columbus by shining lights on them at various distances and then discussing visibility.
Metz has worked midnight shift during his entire 12-year career with the patrol. He said nearly all troopers have had close calls with passing vehicles while working along the edge of the highway.
Fatalities
Girts noted recent fatalities among troopers prompted the change. He said there hasn't been much change in recent years in the number of patrol cars being struck, but the crashes are becoming more severe.
Two troopers were killed on Ohio highways in less than three years.
Trooper Robert Perez was filling out paperwork May 15, 2000, on a routine traffic stop on the Ohio Turnpike in Sandusky when a speeding car hit the patrol car from behind and killed him.
Trooper Frank Vazquez died Nov. 6, 2001, the day after he was struck by a sport utility vehicle. Vazquez was on foot approaching a car on Interstate 270 near Columbus when the sport utility vehicle struck him, the patrol car and the car he had stopped.