Bill Fogerty might possibly be Pinecrest's leading public advocate that you've never heard of.

Bill Fogerty

Even though most people aren't necessarily familiar with him or even with the specific changes he has brought about, he has nonetheless made all of our lives much safer.

Fogerty, a civil engineer, is the founder of Accident Reconstruction Analysts and has dedicated much of his life to ensuring that our roadways are safely designed and that our traffic laws are obeyed.

Given that he taught civil engineering at the University of Miami for 34 years and studied accidents for three decades, it should come as no surprise that he is considered an authority on highway safety. Most notably Fogerty has been a consistent opponent of efforts to repeal important roadway safety codes over the past several decades.

"We've continued to reduce and hone and whittle away at safety standards without any adequate studies to show whether or not those changes were justified," Fogerty explained.

In fact, Fogerty co-wrote the Manual for Safe Standards along with Charlie Noble and Burt Morrow. Fogerty authored the Pedestrian Safety section.

Fogerty established himself as a leader in his field through his groundbreaking 13-year study in which he and a team of other scientists would be dispatched to the scene of accidents when they occurred, a total of 3,500 cases.

Due to its success, the University of Miami Multidisciplinary Accident Analysis Team, as Fogerty's group was called, eventually would expand the area it examined beyond South Florida to include the rest of the state, as well as Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, South and North Carolina.

Outside of ARA, a private engineering consulting firm, Fogerty still takes time to advise local officers about engineering problems.

"I offer to train any officer free of charge who wants to refresh his engineering skills, expand them, or even just discuss a specific accident," Fogerty said. "I'll help with any kind of basic accident reconstruction, talk to the officers on a one-on-one basis."

He believes that it is the least he can do for all the help officers have given him through the years.

"For 13 years," Fogerty said, "they called me and helped out those studies, 3,500 cases worth. This is a small way to pay them back. Anyway, I'd prefer all officers be better trained, not just for the public good, which is obvious, but especially for cases I have to examine for work. If I encounter a case where an officer I trained was on the scene, I can trust that his report is competent."

Fogerty is particularly concerned with both Pinecrest's new signage project and its tree-planting project, which he says are safety hazards and violations of the manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices.

"First of all the new poles will be green, blending in with the foliage around them and making them very difficult to see," he explained. "Secondly, they will most likely be of the non-breakaway variety, since I'm not aware of a green breakaway type, which makes those signs deadly. So essentially you will be increasing the likelihood of drivers running into these signs while also making it more dangerous for them should they do so.

"The trees they are planting definitely violate clear-zone regulations," he continued. "The minimum amount of space according to federal regulations is fourteen feet, but the small trees planted next to the road violate that."

Fogerty, a South Florida resident since 1944, has been very involved with several charitable organizations. His greatest interest though is his work organizing the type of ecumenical group known as a cursillo, a retreat that helps reinforce moral, attentive behavior.

Catholics designed the cursillo concept, Fogerty explained, but Protestants and non-Christians have formed parallel groups.

"The groups are formed out of love for other people," he said. "It provides participants with a shared spiritual growth experience."

After you attend the retreat participants are given the opportunity to form support groups, essentially becoming a brother or sister to the other participants.

They can hold group reunions as well, which are totally non-denominational, where people get together across religious lines to do work for the good of the community.

"It is essentially just a group of good Samaritans who collaborate for the good of the community," he said.

Whether it's helping Camillus House with an Easter egg hunt or lending a hand at Covenant House, Fogerty tries to get involved wherever he can. He even has been teaching seminars at St. Louis and St. John Newman churches.

"There are so many needs that can and have to be met," Fogerty explained, "What are you good at? How can you help? You need to go out and do whatever you can!"