The Ohio Turnpike and Infrastructure Commission and Ohio State Highway Patrol hosted its final Customer Appreciation Event of the year Nov. 27 at the eastbound Vermilion Valley Service Plaza, 7998 Leavitt Road in Amherst.
The event took place inside the service plaza ahead of one of the busiest travel weekends of the year, and featured different organizations promoting road safety.
“It gives us an opportunity to meet our customers face-to-face. Our customers being the ones who pay the tolls on the road,” said Charles Cyrill, director of marketing and communications for the Ohio Turnpike. “This gives us an opportunity to promote roadway safety organically and put a face on us, the Ohio Turnpike staff, as well as the Ohio State Highway Patrol.”
Organizations such as Roth ID Tag, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, BGSU Labor Trafficking Education and Research Initiative, the Cleveland Police Historical Society and Museum and Ohio State Highway Patrol Retirees’ Association participated in the event.
According to Lauren Crafton, founder and CEO of Roth ID Tags, the event served as a perfect space to advocate for emergency contact accessibility, as the Ohio Turnpike shares a similar mission of keeping families safe.
“For us, it’s just very near and dear to our hearts to get all these kiddos that are traveling on this road specifically protected with their emergency contacts on their car seats,” Crafton said.
The Roth ID Tag is an adhesive sticker equipped with spaces for a child’s contact information and placed on car seats, strollers, bicycles or other hard surfaces used in travel in case of an emergency.
Crafton said the idea for the tags stemmed from an accident ending the life of her sister Julie Roth and her unborn baby, Edna Rose.
Roth’s two other children remained at the scene while first responders tried contacting family with no information.
“We appreciate everything the Turnpike Commission does to keep families safe while they’re traveling,” she said. “Our partnership with the Ohio Turnpike has been really meaningful because we both have the same mission.”
