After Shawna Rodriguez lost her 15-year-old daughter, Gabriella, in a hit-and-run on Cincinnati’s West Side, she turned her grief into action, pushing city officials for road safety measures aimed at protecting other children.
“I don’t think we take it serious enough until we’re impacted by a loss,” she said. “I didn’t think about it. When I lost my daughter, I looked at Harrison Avenue like it was a death trap. And I wasn’t OK with it anymore.”
Four years after Gabby was struck by two vehicles and killed on Harrison Avenue, Cincinnati installed speed cushions designed to slow down drivers. Rodriguez is convinced that had those been in place in 2018, her daughter would still be alive.
“I truly, deep down in my heart, believe had those calming measures been in place and had we focused on pedestrian safety back then, I do think I would not have lost my daughter,” she said.
It’s painful to share Gabby’s story but Rodriguez takes solace knowing it might spare others such profound loss.
“I miss her deeply,” she said. “If I talk about it, no matter how much pain I’m in, if that saves one parent from getting the phone call that I got that morning, then I’ll continue to feel the pain and the hurt. And I’ll continue to battle.”
Gas tax hike in 2019 earmarked for safety
After increasing the state gas tax, Ohio increased its roadway safety spending by 83%, from $104.5 million in 2018 to $191 million in 2026. Traffic fatalities declined 17% and pedestrian fatalities dropped 15%.
But there is still work to be done, especially when it comes to protecting pedestrians and cyclists. Cities and state governments are embracing Vision Zero” – a plan to eliminate all traffic fatalities.
Ohio saw a hopeful decline in pedestrian-crash deaths, dropping from a peak 172 in 2021 to 127 in 2024. But the number jumped back up in 2025 to 146. Data for the first six months of 2026 shows Ohio is on track for about 140 pedestrian deaths.
“We’re very concerned about the numbers we’re seeing not only with pedestrians but we’re not seeing good numbers in regard to vehicles either. And we really can’t figure out what’s going on,” Gov. Mike DeWine said. “It flies in the face of what been our long-term trend for a number of years.”
Ohio’s recent uptick in pedestrian fatalities runs counter to national trends. In 2025, drivers struck and killed 7% fewer people walking on U.S. roads than in 2024, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association.
“So, while we are making progress this shows we still have a lot of work to do,” said Ohio Department of Transportation spokesman Matt Bruning. “Of course, engineering is only one portion of the equation. Education and enforcement are the other two legs of the stool that are required to achieve safety on the road.”
Why people die: speed, road design, big vehicles
Several factors contribute to pedestrian deaths, including vehicle size and speed, distracted driving and road designs that prioritize motorists over people walking. The faster the speeds, the more likely a pedestrian struck will die.
The United States has one of the highest road mortality rates among 29 developed nations. Pedestrian deaths fell 29% in those countries between 2014 and 2024 but increased 49% in the U.S., according to data from the International Transport Forum.
American consumers are buying bigger trucks and SUVs, which have larger blind spots and higher bumpers. Those designs make it harder for pedestrians to survive vehicle strikes.
SUVs and pickup trucks accounted for more than half of pedestrian fatalities in 2024, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association.
What is Vision Zero? A goal of no traffic deaths
Cincinnati, Columbus and more than a dozen other Ohio cities have adopted complete streets policies, which require planning, designing and maintaining streets for everyone, not just vehicle drivers. Multiple cities have adopted “Vision Zero” as a goal.
Vision Zero seeks to eliminate traffic fatalities and severe injuries by prioritizing traffic safety as a public health issue. Governments and communities are advocating for better road design, enforcement of traffic laws, and public education campaigns.
It marks an important change in mindset from building roads for cars to building roads for everyone.
“I think people are demanding that more and I think local officials are reacting to that,” DeWine said.
For Dean Jehorek, Shawna Rodriguez and hundreds of other Ohio families who lost loved ones in pedestrian crashes, it’s too little too late.
In February, an SUV driver struck and killed Anastasia Jehorek as she rode a scooter to her job at Chipotle north of Columbus. Jehorek blames his daughter’s death on distracted driving and a lack of sidewalks and protected bike lanes − a combination that puts pedestrians, cyclists and scooter riders in peril.
It can take years to get a traffic study, make recommendations, find funding, request bids, design and build a project.
“It’s been a very long journey. I’m proud to say that we finally do have some changes. I know it was slow coming,” Rodriguez said.
Andy Manka, founder of Akron Vision Zero, said it’s difficult to get people to campaign for safety improvements when the city’s process is so slow.
“It doesn’t have to be this way. The best cities in the U.S. and the best cities in the world operate more on the months timeframe,” Manka said. “In Berkeley, California, if someone dies on a road, they have a team that comes out and looks at the road. They implement changes on the scale of months. I don’t know why it’s not like that here.”
Road Diets: Slowing drivers to protect walkers
Ohio cities are putting roads on diets, making them look skinnier so drivers slow down. Communities are installing speed cushions, extending sidewalk bump outs to shorten crosswalks, reprogramming crosswalk lights to give pedestrians a head start before lights turn green for cars, and building pedestrian islands in the middle of longer crosswalks. In some limited cases, driving lanes are being replaced with protected bike lanes.
“The more highway-like it appears, the more it gives permission and the psychological comfort to people to speed,” said Columbus Vision Zero coordinator Katherine Swidarski.
In late 2022, Cincinnati adopted a policy that requires traffic engineers to consider added pedestrian and cyclist safety measures any time a street project is undertaken.
“It has led to some significant changes in how we design our streets,” said Cincinnati City Councilman Mark Jeffreys. Cincinnati has added speed humps, stop signs, cross walks and roundabouts and put some roads on diets, making them narrower, he said.
Cincinnati also reprogrammed cross lights in more than 130 areas to give pedestrians a head start when crossing a street. “It’s like a 10-second delay and it costs zero dollars,” he said.
When it comes to adding sidewalks, Jeffreys said the focus has been filling in the gaps where children need safe routes to schools. The Governors Highway Safety Association reports that 3 in 5 fatal pedestrian crashes happened in areas without sidewalks in 2024.
The changes Cincinnati has made so far are resulting in less speeding and fewer crashes.
In Cincinnati, crashes that resulted in pedestrian severe injuries or fatalities dropped by 28%, from 243 in 2021 to 175 in 2025.
In the past six years, Cincinnati has spent $14 million on pedestrian safety and traffic calming measures. Investments are directed based on data points such as speed, crashes, public transit and proximity to schools, parks and recreation areas.
Some of the recent projects include:
Jeffreys said buy-in for more pedestrian safety investments started about four years ago when news reports focused on children fatally hit by cars.
“There is definitely a segment of the population that hates speed bumps, unless they’re in front of their house,” he said.
Jeffreys, who said he has 6,000 miles on his e-bike, said Cincinnati Crown, a 34-mile loop of bike paths and routes, is more than half built. It’s used by cyclists and pedestrians. “That’s another area we need to focus.”
State government reporter Laura Bischoff can be reached at lbischoff@usatodayco.com and @lbischoff on X.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: A Cincinnati mother’s loss sparks push to boost pedestrian safety
Reporting by Laura A. Bischoff, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Laura A. Bischoff, Cincinnati Enquirer | USA TODAY Network
