Two weeks ago, this column suggested that cutting Maryland's highway death toll of more than 600 a year in half would be a worthy -- and achievable -- goal.
It turns out that Fred F. Mirmiran, who built many of those highways, was thinking along the same lines. And he's fixing to help do something about it.
Mirmiran is president of Johnson, Mirmiran & Thompson, a Sparks-based engineering company known for its work on such megaprojects as the Woodrow Wilson Bridge replacement and the new interchange of Interstates 95 and 695 taking shape in Baltimore County. JMT is not as well-known as Coca-Cola, but many of the roads on which you drive daily have been designed by the firm.
So it comes as no surprise that Maryland's State Highway Administration, a big customer of the company, turned to Mirmiran and his peers in the road-building business to help raise private money to help commemorate its 100th anniversary this year. (The actual birthday is Wednesday.)
Mirmiran conceived the idea of creating a nonprofit foundation to help fund the centennial celebration, including underwriting the cost of a book on the history of Maryland roads. But he also decided it would be appropriate for that group to take on a mission more ambitious than one year of ballyhoo.
Thus was born the Maryland Traffic Safety Foundation. The idea, Mirmiran said, was to honor the centennial by setting up something that would contribute to saving lives during the next 100 years.
Early this year, Mirmiran rounded up some heavy hitters on the Maryland highway scene -- folks such as former Maryland Transportation Secretary Bill Hellman, now with RK&K; Pierce Flanigan of P. Flanigan & Sons; and Richard Wagman of G.A. & F.C. Wagman Inc. -- to serve on the board.
The fledgling foundation has raised more than $125,000 -- largely from the engineering and construction industry. Mirmiran says he hopes to bring together a coalition of companies, organizations and individuals to push for measures to save lives.
Part of the emphasis will be strengthening the Maryland Shock Trauma Center, where Mirmiran serves on the board of visitors, but the other part will be preventing the accidents that keep the trauma center far too busy.
"The life you save could be your own and your own kids," he said. "It could be your child, it could be your brother, your sister, it could be anybody."
