GHSA, Roadway Safety Community Mourn Passing of Barbara Harsha

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Adam Snider, 202-365-8971

Former GHSA Executive Director was passionate leader and advocate for behavioral traffic safety and State Highway Safety Offices

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) mourns the passing of Barbara Harsha, a visionary and dedicated leader who made a tremendous positive impact on roadway safety during her 25 years helming the Association. Harsha became GHSA’s Executive Director in 1988 and retired in 2013.

“Barbara was a fearless leader, caring mentor and vocal champion for the important work that State Highway Safety Offices do to protect everyone on the road,” said GHSA CEO Jonathan Adkins. “On a personal note, Barbara started as my supervisor and ended up my friend. Like she did with so many others, she believed in me, supported me and pushed me to be better. I’ll greatly miss her wit, passion and counsel.”

Harsha’s accomplishments leading GHSA and advancing roadway safety at the national level are too numerous to list, but a few of the highlights include:

• Successfully sought increased federal funding for SHSO grant programs and championed consolidation and reform of these programs;
• Enhanced relationships with key national organizations that represent state-level agencies, such as the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators and others;
• Worked cooperatively with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to develop performance measures for road safety and traffic records programs, helping the states move toward a more performance-based approach in safety program planning and implementation;
• Worked with NHTSA to improve the management of state highway safety programs and helped develop planning and management tools for states;
• Helped raise the visibility of traffic safety workforce development issues;
• Developed, with NHTSA, a model guideline to improve the collection of state crash data, which has been used by NHTSA to develop other highway safety-related data guidance; and
• Helped move state highway safety programs toward a more research-based, data-driven approach and oversaw the development of resources for that purpose.

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