Be the Highway Hero: A Life’s Journey in Road Safety

As I reflect on more than four decades in transportation, I’ve come to see my career not just as a path of engineering and leadership—but as a personal journey toward saving lives. From my early days as a traffic engineer in New Jersey, to my role overseeing Greece’s first tollway concession, and through my service as president of IBTTA, one truth has remained constant: safety is never achieved by accident. It’s built by people. And every safe journey has a hero.

This year, as part of our second annual Global Road Safety Week, IBTTA is celebrating the theme “Be the Highway Hero.” This isn’t about grand gestures. It’s about the everyday actions that prevent crashes, protect workers, and help people get home safely. The tolling industry—spanning nearly 100 countries—is a powerful force in this effort. We are not only advancing technologies and infrastructure, but also advocating for smart policy and safety-first operations. Whether it’s a control room dispatcher, a maintenance crew in a work zone, or a driver making the right choice behind the wheel—these are the heroes we count on every day.

In 2024, during my presidency at IBTTA, we launched the Be Safe Together campaign—a global effort to unite the tolling industry around a single, urgent mission: reducing roadway deaths and injuries. The response was immediate and inspiring. Nearly 100 organizations have joined the campaign, from agencies in the U.S. and Europe to global partners like PIARC, ASECAP, and IRF. Our campaign’s momentum shows what’s possible when we recognize that safety is everyone’s responsibility—across roles, regions, and road types.

I’ve seen this firsthand in Greece. The HELLASTRON network, which operates more than 2,100 kilometers of toll roads, reduced highway fatalities by more than 50% over the last decade. There have been no worker fatalities in five years. These are not just statistics. They are proof that continuous investment, operational discipline, and culture change save lives.

And that’s why IBTTA is doing more than talking about safety—we’re building the policies to support it. This spring, we submitted U.S. federal surface transportation reauthorization priorities to Congress, focused on safety, resilience, and innovation. Our members are advocating for expanded flexibility for tolling, greater funding for infrastructure hardening, and accelerated deployment of connected vehicle technologies. These efforts align with what we know works—making it easier for our industry to do what it does best: serve the public with safety, efficiency, and accountability.

As we celebrate Global Road Safety Week, I ask you to think about your role in this journey. Whether you work in operations, technology, government, or you’re simply someone who drives to work each day—know that your choices matter. You don’t have to wear a uniform or hold a title to be a highway hero. You just have to care enough to act.

Because in the end, the real legacy we leave behind is not the roads we build—it’s the lives we protect along the way.