Citizens For Roadside Safety was created as a result of the death of Judy Bird, the 20 year old daughter of Galen & Linda Bird on December 19, 1992. The driver drove off the road and hit a blunt end guardrail. The guardrail pierced the car, decapitating Judy. Eighteen feet of guardrail were taken to the junk yard with the car. This type of guardrail has been known to be deadly since the 1960's and yet there are thousands on our highways today. The driver walked away from the scene.

The goal of this organization is to save lives and force the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the states to dedicate more time and money to highway safety. In the past there has been an attitude that if a driver runs off the road they deserve to die. Due to pressure from many people and organizations like ours, this attitude is gradually changing. There are many older people working for the state DOT's that need to be replaced because they will not adjust to the new times. In the past it was said, "give the people a smooth road," to make state DOT's look good. The people of the U.S. now want safer highways.

After meeting with the Federal Highway Administration in May of 1994, a memorandum was written and signed by Dean Carlson on September 29, 1994 giving the states until September 29, 1996 to get the blunt end killer guardrails off the National Highway System (NHS). The FHWA is not enforcing this memorandum.

Click here for memorandum.

We have had a tremendous amount of media coverage since the founding of the organization. We have appeared on Inside Edition, many news spots for local T.V. stations, and have had many articles published in newspapers. As a result we get calls from all over the nation making us aware of the deplorable road conditions in other states. We have done presentations for several of the states' House and Senate Transportation Committees, and will speak for any organization when possible.