Traffic fatalities in Ohio
2010: 1,080
2011: 1,016
2012: 1,122
2013: 990
2014: 1,008
2015: 1,073
Source: Ohio Highway Patrol
Ohio could improve roadway safety and reduce traffic fatalities if it adopted key laws such as letting cops pull over drivers for failing to wear their seat belts and requiring all motorcyclists to wear helmets, according to a new report from the Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety.
Ohio earned a “yellow” rating from the group because its traffic safety laws are insufficient, the report said. Ohio averages a little over 1,000 traffic fatalities each year, including 464 unbelted occupants and 154 motorcyclists, according to statistics from the Ohio Highway Patrol.
“Whether walking, biking, driving or riding, Americans are afforded a significant degree of mobility. Yet this comes with an enormous social cost — over 6.1 million crashes in 2014 resulting in almost 32,700 fatalities and 2.3 million injuries,” the report said. “This is a major public health epidemic by any measure.”
The Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety recommends that states have primary enforcement of seat belts, all-rider motorcycle helmet laws, primary enforcement of booster seat requirements for kids aged 4 through 7, a graduated driver licensing system for new drivers, ignition locking devices for drunk driving offenders, and a comprehensive text messaging ban.
Over the past 15 years, Ohio has put stricter traffic safety laws into place such as requiring booster seats, seat belts for all occupants, texting bans and a graduated driver licensing program for new drivers. But the report dings Ohio for not having primary enforcement for seat belt and booster seat violations — letting cops pull over drivers just for those infractions — and for failing to require all motorcyclists to wear helmets.
In 1967 the federal government required states to enact universal helmet laws to qualify for certain funding but that requirement was revoked eight years later. Since the mid-170s, states began to weaken helmet laws and now just 19 states have universal helmet laws, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association.
Ohio, which repealed its universal helmet law in 1978, requires helmets for passengers and motorcyclists under 18 or motorcyclists licensed for less than a year.
Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety also recommends stronger restrictions for novice drivers: making them wait until they turn 16 before they can get a learner’s permit and banning unsupervised driving between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. for newly licensed teen drivers.
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