Meet Mason Jones, "The Guardrail Kid," helping PennDOT scout dangerous guardrails
CHESTER COUNTY, Pa. (CBS) -- Mason Jones is known as "The Guardrail Kid" on TikTok to his 19,000 followers but he's also known to road safety advocates, guardrail industry heads, and managers with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.
It started in the Spring of 2023 when Jones, who was 10 years old at the time, came across a video on YouTube about guardrails. Jones was captivated by learning about the potential dangers of improperly installed or damaged guardrails.
The man behind that video is Steve Eimers, who's been advocating for guardrail safety since his daughter, Hannah, was killed in a 2016 crash when a guardrail speared through her car.
"Allowing an innocent person to lose their life because you didn't make a repair, that's wrong and we can push our government to be responsive," Eimers said.
Jones took that challenge to the next level, spending most of his free time searching for guardrails with potentially dangerous elements such as a bolt in the wrong place or an area of rusted metal.
CBS Philadelphia joined Jones and his mom, Christine Miller, on a walk near their home in Chester County, Pennsylvania, while they inspected guardrails. They said they spend a lot of time scouting out guardrails, sometimes on foot and other times they'll drive to locations Jones wants to inspect.
Jones and Miller estimate he's reported at least 50 guardrails to departments of transportation across the country. Using Google's satellite street view, Jones zooms in on the images of guardrails and sends his concerns to the officials in that area.
Last month, Matt Weachter, the Transportation Construction Manager with PennDOT, e-mailed Mason asking him to send guardrail concerns directly to him, bypassing PennDOT's Customer Care website.
"The kid knows what he's talking about, down to little things. Little things mean a lot. If a bolt is not in place if a bearing plate is upside down, everything he's been pointing out has been pretty legit," Weachter said.
Eimers said Jones has put the time and effort into learning the ins and outs of guardrails, even taking installation and inspection courses online. He passed three training courses offered by Road Systems Inc., a guardrail manufacturing company. The certificates of completion are hanging on his family's fridge and a vice president with the company told CBS Philadelphia he believes Jones is the youngest person to complete the training.
When asked why he's so passionate about guardrail safety, Jones said: "To keep others from being killed."
Miller is in awe of her son.
"I think it's awesome. I mean, I love that he is who he is and he doesn't care what anyone says," Christine said.
Weachter said Jones is a huge help to PennDOT adding, "Just the little things that he points out sometimes can be overlooked by others."
Miller said her son was diagnosed with autism around age 3, but the family never thought of it as a disability. Instead, they're rooting him on as he forges his own unique path. Miller thinks he might invent a safer guardrail one day.
