Ohio DOT safety campaign humanizes workers in short videos

Instead of pointing the finger at irresponsible driving, the Ohio DOT has chosen to tell the true stories of its employees' lives for a stronger emotional impact.

Ohio's new “Move Over, Slow Down” law legally requires drivers to do just that — to give way and slow down for any stopped vehicle on the side of the road with flashing lights. To emphasize the importance of safe driving to Department of Transportation employees, the agency tells their stories in short videos to humanize the potential danger to road workers.

David Rose, communications director for the Ohio DOT, says ODOT research shows that showing workers themselves would have a greater impact than simply telling people what to do. As he puts it, if you want to change people's behavior, you have to appeal to them emotionally.

“The government is very good at saying, 'Don't do this and don't do that,'” he says. “And that never works, does it? So with this campaign we wanted to really humanize ourselves. We feature a real Highway State Patrol trooper. She was great and her kids are in the video too.

“One of our highway workers was there too. And in the radio spots we have a tow truck worker who does the voiceover. So these are people, this is their job.”

Other employees featured in these 30-second videos include street workers and a Columbus city firefighter. Rose says this is the first time the department has conducted an awareness campaign of this magnitude internally without a marketing firm or videographer.

One reason the department has put so much effort into the campaign is that the number of accidents involving ODOT employees and equipment has increased significantly compared to last year.

“We decided to go this route because 52 ODOT employees and equipment have been affected since January 1,” Rose says. “Compare that to all of last year – it was 56.”

There was already extra money, Rose says, because the department also ran a “Phones Away” campaign to educate drivers about a new law that went into effect last year banning both the use of cell phones and holding them while driving. It was decided to set up a program to protect not only road workers, but the drivers themselves.

“We have to protect our people, and not just our people: police, firefighters, towing, anyone who works on the side of the road,” Rose says. “So that was the strategy. Unfortunately, people also don't realize that when you collide with a large snow plow or lawn mower, in most cases it's the drivers who get hurt, not our workers.”

“We have definitely had some pretty bad injuries and, unfortunately, deaths in the past, but already 52 times [workers and equipment have been hit] compared to 56 in the whole of last year. That was a reason to give it our all.”

Understanding and addressing the problem

Although the campaign is only a few months old, Rose says they have already seen a significant decrease in the number of accidents involving Department of Transportation personnel and equipment, during the time of year when these accidents are most common.

“We only had two [collisions] in the last two months since the campaign began,” Rose says. “Are we making that correlation? The crazy thing is, we're in the middle of maintenance and construction season. So we should be more affected now than ever before because our teams are currently busier than ever before.”

One possible reason for the increase in collisions in 2024, according to Rose, could be that drivers are statistically driving faster since the COVID-19 pandemic. Aside from that, drivers in work zones are usually either distracted or impatient.

“There are usually multiple factors at play,” he says. “One thing we saw during COVID was that traffic decreased and people were just speeding. I know that since COVID, the Highway Patrol has stopped more people going 20 miles per hour or more over the speed limit. And for those clocked at 100 miles per hour or more, that's also the highest number they've ever had.

“It's a combination of speeding and distraction. Those are certainly the two main causes. And then there are other things – like tailgating in construction zones. If you're tailgating someone, let's say it's a larger vehicle, and you may not be able to see what's in front of you. And you want to drive off and you don't realize that the lane in front of you is closed.”