Roger Mauzy Sr. has made a career out of serving the community and saving lives.Mauzy has been a paramedic since 1983, served as Warren County coroner from 1997 to 2015 and currently serves as presiding county commissioner for Warren County.Now he’s been recognized by the Missouri Coalition for Roadway Safety for his efforts in keeping motorists safe. Those efforts started back in 1997, when Mauzy was county coroner.“I was going to the interstate and picking bodies up,” he said. “A vast majority of those deaths were secondary to crossovers. To me, the answer was simple, put something there to stop cars from crossing over.”Mauzy said he didn’t know that politics and bureaucracy would get in the way of something that seemed so simple, so logical. Things like statewide priorities, plans, budgets and approvals got in the way.It seemed like a losing proposition — one person against giants — so Mauzy let it go. But then another catastrophe happened.“In 1999, another crossover accident that killed grandparents and a grandchild on their way to meet the parents. It was a horrific, fiery crash. It closed the interstate for 10 hours. Something had to be done,” he said.Mauzy came back more driven than before to make highways safer for Warren and Montgomery County motorists. He created a media campaign to raise awareness about the dangers and the need for safety interventions, and that created a public outcry.Lawmakers in Jefferson City felt the pressure and Mauzy’s plan for installing safety cables along medians went statewide. They were installed in 2002.Since then, interstate fatalities have decreased. MoDOT believes the safety cables have saved more than 300 lives.Mauzy said a lot of people made it happen. At most, he’s willing to take credit for “being a pain in the butt. You could say I was the hemorrhoid in MoDOTs tail,” he said with a laugh.“I’d say things like ‘You can go with me to notify the families.’ I thought that would make them think,” he said.These days, he sees cars and even big rigs being stopped by the safety cables. Vehicles might get dinged up, but people are surviving.For these life-saving efforts, Mauzy was recognized with the statewide “Arrive Alive Award,” which recognizes individuals and groups who show exemplary dedication and leadership in highway safety. It is the highest award given by the Missouri Coalition for Roadway Safety.Mauzy was one of five highway safety statewide award winners and 13 regional award winners who were recognized at the 2016 Traffic Safety and Blueprint Conference held this month in Columbia.The conference is organized by the Missouri Coalition of Roadway Safety, whose goal is to reduce fatalities and disabling injuries on Missouri roads.Roger Mauzy