ODOT and OSHP rolling out new message board campaign

July 1, 2015 at 7:05p.m.

CANFIELD

State officials unveiled an educational initiative to use message boards in Mahoning and Trumbull counties to display traffic deaths on Ohio roadways.

The boards also will display enforcement slogans such as “drive sober or get pulled over” or “click it or ticket.”

The Ohio Department of Transportation is partnering with the Ohio State Highway Patrol to use existing digital message boards in high visibility areas. In Mahoning County, a board will be at Interstate 76 and state Route 45 in North Jackson and in Trumbull County it will be at Interstate 80 and Logan Way in Liberty. The alternating messages of traffic deaths, to be updated weekly, and enforcement slogans will run 24 hours a day on weekends and from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. on weekdays.

“Unfortunately traffic deaths are up 19 percent this year compared to 2014. So far we have reported about 76 more deaths in 2015,” said Brent Kovacs, ODOT spokesperson. The number of traffic deaths statewide as of Wednesday night was 487.

Kovacs said the months of January, February and May were “significantly higher than previous years.”

“The enforcement and outreach campaign is meant to remind motorists of the critical role in preventing traffic deaths. More than 90 percent of all traffic crashes involve human error,” he said.