1THE LEL | November 2018 Issue

LELTHE

Law Enforcement Improving Traffic Safety

November 2O183 Backup is Coming

4 Best Practices

7 Incentivizing Better Stops

8 Leadership Lessons

9 Partner Spotlight: MADD

10 From the Bench

11 Awards and Events

12 Traffic Safety Calendar

The fundamental message of Vision Zero is that death and injury on city streets is unacceptable and we will no longer regard serious crashes as inevitable

By Michael J. Morris

IN 2013, 182 OF NEW YORK CITY’S 296 TRAFFIC-related fatalities were pedestrians. Traffic crashes injure an average of 4,000 New Yorkers and kill more than 250 each year. Mayor Bill de Blasio made this issue a priority with the launch of the city’s Vision Zero Action Plan in January 2014.

“The fundamental message of Vision Zero is that death and injury on city streets is not acceptable and that we will no longer regard serious crashes as inevitable…” wrote Mayor de Blasio in a letter on the initiative’s website. “Together, we will make this city safer.”

The NYPD has identified six high-risk violations that

are significant contributing

factors to the number of serious

injury and fatal crashes.

Vision Zero New York

2THE LEL | November 2018 Issue

issued in the city last year, 65 percent were for one of the six violations listed above.

To date, New York City Vision Zero’s comprehensive and col-laborative approach to traffic safety has been a tremendous success. In January 2018, Mayor de Blasio announced the fourth consecutive year of declining traffic deaths. Since 2013, traffic fatalities have bucked the national trend, drop-ping 28 percent. Pedestrian deaths have plummeted by 45 percent to the lowest levels since recordkeeping began in 1910.

For more information on the initiative, visit the city’s Vision Zero website.

Michael J. Morris is the Nation-al Highway Traffic Safety Ad-ministration (NHTSA) Region 2 Law Enforcement Liaison.

Vision Zero New York

Vision Zero emphasizes several key points:

●● There is no acceptable level of death and injury on city streets.

●● Traffic deaths and injuries are not accidents but rather crashes that can be prevented.

●● The public should expect safe behavior on city streets and participate in a culture change

In 2014 a Vision Zero Task Force brought together the traditional “3-Es” of traffic safety—engineer-ing, enforcement, and education—as well as all the key partners and stakeholders that impact the city’s roadways. This group included all city departments, state and federal partners, as well as private and not-for-profit entities. The Task Force created an action plan that is updated annually.

Among these partners, the New York Police Department (NYPD) focuses on the enforcement com-ponent of the initiative. Accord-ing to Inspector Dennis Fulton of NYPD’s Traffic Bureau, since the inception of Vision Zero the NYPD has made a concerted ef-fort to improve various areas of its operations. The city made an in-vestment in technology to improve its data collection capabilities by launching a digital crash report and electronic ticketing system. NYPD also conducts biweekly “TrafficStat” meetings identifying crash hot spots and developing enforcement strategies to target the problem areas.

After analyzing its crash data, the NYPD has identified six high-risk violations that are signifi-cant contributing factors to the number of serious injury and fatal crashes, which are published in the annual action plan:

●● Speeding

●● Failure to yield to a pedestrian

●● Disregarding a traffic signal

●● Improper turns

●● Texting/phoning while driving

●● Disobeying a stop sign

All NYPD personnel are asked to strictly enforce these viola-tions. To promote this mandate, command personnel attend roll call to explain the Vision Zero plan and how the department’s enforcement efforts contribute to the plan and the safety of the city’s residents and visitors. Of the 1,059,308 moving violations

The New York City Vision Zero website includes a variety of resources related to the plan, local initiatives, maps and data, and ways to take action.

Since the inception of

Vision Zero the NYPD has made

a concerted effort to improve various areas of

their operations.

3THE LEL | November 2018 Issue

LELTHE

Law Enforcement Improving Traffic Safety

Vernon Betkey program manager

The LEL is published by the National Law Enforcement Liaison Program, a project of the Governors Highway Safety Association, funded

by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

660 N. Capitol Street, NW, Suite 220,

Washington DC 20001-1642 www.nlelp.org

facebook.com/nlelp twitter.com/nlelp

program manager Vernon Betkey

editor Amadie Hart

creative Tony Frye Design

technical advisory group Glenn Cramer

Ted Minall Michael Morris

Wil Price James Sanders

Bill Sullivan Richard Sullivan

Backup Is Coming

“I DRIVE BETTER HIGH.”

I am sure you heard that com-ment from a marijuana user, but we all know that is not the case. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Adminis-tration (NHTSA), marijuana use doubled among drivers killed in crashes between 2007 and 2015. We need to do something about it now if we are going to save lives and achieve zero deaths on our highways.

It is going to take a combination of education and enforcement from dedicated organizations and traffic safety professionals to debunk the myth and stop the proliferation of drug-impaired driving. As NHTSA Deputy Administrator Heidi King said at the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) Drug, Alcohol, Impaired, and Distracted Driving (DAID) Conference in Au-gust 2018, “backup is coming!”

Deputy Administrator King has been listening to drug recognition experts (DREs), toxicologists, law enforcement, and highway safety professionals across the country to get a sense of the scope of the issues, the needs of the field personnel, and strategies that can combat this life-threatening behavior. “I hear you, we hear you, and help is on the way,” she said to DAID conference at-tendees. “I am listening for what you need, Congress is listening, the White House is listening, and

other federal agencies are listen-ing to you…Solving the problem of drug-impaired driving is not going to be easy, but I know we can do this. You are committed leaders that have the experience and the knowledge that the rest of the nation now needs more than ever.”

The Deputy Administrator made drug-impaired driving a highway safety priority, issuing a Call to Action in March 2018. She believes that the work will take some time, but there are things that can be done now. These include educating the public; raising more support for pro-grams that work, such as DRE and the Traffic Safety Resource Prosecutor (TSRP) program; and identifying the research needed and starting to address barriers to that research.

LELs and network partners can get involved in the national initia-tive to combat drug-impaired driving by promoting the new NHTSA campaign, If You Feel Different, You Drive Different, and sharing the collateral mate-rials the agency has developed with partners. Finally, keep in mind that “it won’t be easy, but backup is coming.”

Marijuana use doubled among

drivers killed in crashes

between 2007 and 2015.

4THE LEL | November 2018 Issue

Best Practices

Montana’s Impaired Driving Scenario-Based Training

By Glenn Cramer

DETECTING IMPAIRED DRIVERS IS difficult and obtaining a conviction in an impaired driving case can also be challenging. Impaired driv-ing laws are complex, as is collect-ing the evidence needed to define and demonstrate impairment.

Four years ago, the Montana Highway Patrol (MHP) did a self-assessment of the basic impaired driving enforcement training provided to their cadets. They found behavioral and skill gaps between the knowledge of impaired driving enforcement and the real-world application of enforcement. Old-fashioned “chalk-and-talk” classes where an instructor interacts with the

Scenario-based training

helps fill the gaps between

classroom training and

real-world application

of skills.

students in one direction with an array of slides were not effective. To help close the performance gap, the MHP completed an analysis of the best types of training methodology for person-nel to learn, retain, and execute impaired driving enforcement.

This analysis highlighted a realistic scenario-based training model used by the Idaho State Police (ISP). MHP adopted the ISP model and added training elements to enhance it for their purpose. In a two-day training session offered this past August, MHP cadets practiced stopping suspected traffic violators on the agency’s driver training course. A volunteer drinker who had been dosed to a specific breath alcohol content (BAC) would sit behind the steering wheel of a stopped vehicle for the cadet to begin the impaired driving investigation.

Each cadet would make six impaired driving arrests during the training session. One of the arrests included a scenario of the suspected driver refusing to provide a breath sample, during which the cadet would practice completing an affidavit for a telephonic search warrant. If a search warrant was authorized, an actual blood sample was taken from the volunteer sus-pected driver by an instructor trained as a forensic phleboto-mist to help cadets learn the proper procedure for packaging blood evidence.

The training ended with the cadet interviewing the suspect-ed driver and completing the alcohol/drug influence report form, followed by the comple-tion of an impaired driving case report. One case report from each cadet was selected by a prosecutor for a mock trial.

The attention to detail in the scenario-based training is impressive and it helps fill the gaps between classroom train-ing and real-world application of skills. Scenario-based training is often more enjoyable for par-ticipants and creates a positive environment where students can learn from their mistakes.

For more information about this training, contact Sergeant Kurt Sager, Montana Highway Patrol, at ksager@mt.gov or (406) 444-9873.

Glenn Cramer is the NHTSA Region 10 Law Enforcement Liaison.

A Montana Highway Patrol cadet practices Standardized Field Sobriety Testing of a suspected impaired driver during a scenario-based training session.

5THE LEL | November 2018 Issue

Best Practices

Mountain West States Encourage Football Game Traffic Safety

By Pete Abrams

THE WEEK-TO-WEEK INTENSITY

in Mountain West Conference (MWC) stadiums is college foot-ball at its finest. Each university located in the Rocky Mountain Region considers the other a major rival due to proximity, de-mographics, and history.

With the college football sea-son upon us, LELs in the region

saw an excellent opportunity for proactive public education and traffic law enforcement efforts centered around MWC football games.

This past August, State High-way Safety Office (SHSO) staff, LELs, and State Police and Highway Patrol command staff from Colorado, Idaho, Nevada,

Utah, and Wyoming gathered in Logan, Utah, to plan a strat-egy to coordinate multi-state traffic safety initiatives during the weeks MWC football games were scheduled. The inspiration for this initiative came from a presentation by Idaho State Police (ISP) Director Colonel Kedrick Wills and Idaho LEL and Boise Po-lice Department Corporal Kyle Wills at the November 2017 National LEL Conference. The presentation highlighted the partnership between ISP

Top, from left to right: Colonel Kedrick Wills, Officer Kyle Wills, Idaho Office of Highway Safety Grants Manager John Tomlinson, and Wyoming LEL Pete Abrams.

Bottom left: Front row: Wyoming LEL Monte Alsop. Second row: Nevada LELs Rob Honea and Scott Swain. Third row: Utah Highway Safety Office Communication Manager Helen Knipe and Wyoming Department of Transportation Public Relations Specialist Stephanie Harsha. Back row: Utah Highway Patrol Captain Christopher Simmons and Major Mark Zesiger.

Bottom right: Colonel Kedrick Wills, Officer Kyle Wills and John Tomlinson.

LELs in the region saw an

opportunity for education and

enforcement efforts centered

around MWC football games.

6THE LEL | November 2018 Issue

Best Practicesnouncements, and non-traditional marketing during the 2018 Moun-tain West football season. Execu-tive leadership from ISP, Wyoming Highway Patrol, and Colorado State Patrol filmed public ser-vice announcements (PSAs) for the Boise State at Wyoming, Colorado State at Boise State and Wyoming at Colorado State football games. Similar efforts are underway in the Big Sky Confer-ence when Eastern Washington University plays the Idaho schools.

Public education paired with traf-fic law enforcement helps create

The campaigns emphasize the

fact that the traffic safety

mission begins and ends with

saving lives.

Overall officer fatalities have increased three percent over this time last year, with a total of 119. Of those, 32% were traffic-related fatalities. As shown above, multiple vehicle crashes made up the majority of traffic-related fatalities, with eleven percent. Incidents when officers were struck while outside their vehicle accounts for ten percent of traffic-related fatalities; single-vehicle crashes, nine percent; and motorcycle crashes, two percent.

Other Causes, 3028%

Firearms, 4340%

Multiple Vehicle, 1311%

Struck-by, 1210%

Single Vehicle, 119%

Motorcycle, 22%

Traffic-Related, 3832%

Total Line of Duty Fatalities for 2018**Preliminary Data as of November 9, 2018*

Other Causes, 3028%

Firearms, 4340%

Multiple Vehicle, 1211%

Struck‐by, 1110%

Single Vehicle, 99%

Motorcycle, 22%

Traffic‐Related, 3432%

Total Line of Duty Fatalities for 2018**Preliminary Data as of October 3, 2018*

Overall officer fatalities have increased three percent over this time last year, with a total of 107. Of those, 32% were traffic‐related fatalities. As shown above, multiple vehicle crashes made up the majority of traffic‐related fatalities, with eleven percent. Incidents when officers were struck while outside their vehicle accounts for ten percent of traffic‐related fatalities; single‐vehicle crashes, nine percent; and motorcycle crashes, two percent.

Other Causes, 3028%

Firearms, 4340%

Multiple Vehicle, 1211%

Struck‐by, 1110%

Single Vehicle, 99%

Motorcycle, 22%

Traffic‐Related, 3432%

Total Line of Duty Fatalities for 2018**Preliminary Data as of October 3, 2018*

Overall officer fatalities have increased three percent over this time last year, with a total of 107. Of those, 32% were traffic‐related fatalities. As shown above, multiple vehicle crashes made up the majority of traffic‐related fatalities, with eleven percent. Incidents when officers were struck while outside their vehicle accounts for ten percent of traffic‐related fatalities; single‐vehicle crashes, nine percent; and motorcycle crashes, two percent.

and the Utah Highway Patrol in response to the travel demands on the interstate highways when the Boise State University and Utah State University football teams played each other. These state agencies joined with local law enforcement to conduct public education efforts and targeted patrols to emphasize traffic safety.

Using this partnership model, the August workgroup developed an operational plan to expand law enforcement efforts, public education, public service an-

the public perception of a visible and vigilant law enforce-ment presence, which helps re-duce dangerous driving behav-iors. In addition, the campaigns emphasize the fact that the traffic safety mission begins and ends with saving lives. States in the region are ex-cited about this Mountain West partnership and have some very important work to continue and successes to build upon.

Pete Abrams is a Wyoming Law Enforcement Liaison.

Overall officer fatalities have increased three percent from this time last year, totaling 111. Of those, 32 percent were traffic-related fatalities. There were 129 total officer fatalities in 2017, 46 of which were traffic-related.

Source: National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.

7THE LEL | November 2018 Issue

Solutions andCounter-measures

Engineering

Education

EMS

Enforcement

Reduce Crashes by Incentivizing Better Vehicle Stops

By Larry Krantz

DESPITE ALL THE MONEY SPENT on enforcement hours, citations, and arrests, crashes in Texas are still increasing and the state’s Selective Traffic Enforcement Pro-gram (STEP) has lost one or two participating agencies every year.

STEP is a grant program that awards enforcement agencies points for tickets. If writing cita-tions for motor vehicle violations reduces crashes, the number of crashes would have gone down by now.

One of the seven guiding prin-ciples of DDACTS (Data-Driven Approaches to Crime and Traffic Safety) is promoting high-visibility enforcement efforts in areas where crashes and crimes are historically overrepresented. Agencies that found ways to deliver a constant, high-visibility enforcement presence in these areas saw considerable reduc-tions in crashes and crime by disrupting, displacing and diffus-ing criminal behavior.

At its core, STEP funding buys car stops. There are five basic benefits to a car stop: general and specific deterrence to moving violations, general and specific deterrence to criminal behavior, and intelligence-gathering. If the STEP program could incentiv-ize making strategic car stops rather than traffic units working in “honey holes” to make numbers, Texas could start chipping away at its crash problem.

The first hurdle was changing a system that incentivized writing tickets as quickly as possible in areas of low compliance to one that incentivized making high-quality vehicle stops in high-crash areas. The second was helping agencies without their own analytical capabilities determine the location of crash hot spots. Moving from points to car stops per hour was straight-forward. Mapping hot spots required a partnership between the Texas Department of Trans-portation and the Texas Depart-ment of Public Safety’s High-way Safety Operations Center (HSOC). HSOC developed maps with three years of crash data and a companion analysis piece for each of Texas’ 254 coun-

ties. If agencies could perform their own analysis and overlay crashes and criminal behaviors, then STEP-funded enforcement could reduce crashes and other social harms at the same time.

As it turns out, these two key changes are paying dividends even though the new rules for STEP do not take effect until October 1.

Showing agencies where crashes occur and help-ing them understand how to leverage maximum value from traffic enforcement has caused some agencies to begin shift-ing their standard operational concepts to reflect DDACTS principles. Their STEP enforce-ment will simply augment the strategies at no additional cost to the agency. Several law en-forcement agencies are work-ing to combine the DDACTS training and STEP enforcement while simultaneously develop-ing or improving their analytical capabilities.

Larry Krantz is the Police Traf-fic Services Program Manager with the Texas Department of Transportation.

There are five basic benefits to a car stop:

general and specific

deterrence to moving violations,

general and specific

deterrence to criminal behavior, and intelligence-

gathering.

8THE LEL | November 2018 Issue

First Person

There’s Always One More Thing We Can DoBy Wil Price

A FREQUENT THEME IN MY COLUMNS HAS

been leadership. The subject is endlessly fascinating, as it can be incredibly elusive and yet something that should be relatively simple to get right.

I was blessed with some excellent mentors and leaders over the years and developed a keen interest in leadership theory. Those men and women offered sound guidance and positive examples to be followed. I also learned many lessons from my fail-ures, which can be powerful and profitable experiences.

But once you find your way, there is still a lot left to do and learn. Consider the follow-ing two examples.

After seeing the movie “We Were Soldiers,” I became interested in Hal Moore, the battlefield commander of the 1st Battalion, 7th Air Cavalry Regiment during the 1965 battle in the Ia Drang Valley of Vietnam. It led me to learn more about him and his ap-proach to leadership. One of his principles is: “There’s always one more thing you can do to influence any situation in your favor—and after that, one more thing, and after that…The more you do, the more opportuni-ties arise.”

The second is from a recent conversation in which a colleague encouraged me to watch a video featuring Chad Pregracke, the Founder and President of Living Lands & Waters. His lessons on leadership are worth our attention as he tells how he undertook

the process of cleaning up the Mississippi River—and not a little part of the river; the whole thing. By himself. He teaches us the power of the individual to effect meaningful change, influence action by others, and not accept defeat. There are several videos in which Mr. Pregracke provides examples of things everyone can do to influence action. Here is a good place to start.

Whether we are talking about a battlefield commander or a guy from a small commu-nity taking on a seemingly impossible task, the lesson here is that there is always one more thing we can do. Hal Moore’s words reference influencing outcomes, which is something Vern and I spend a lot of time discussing. Searching out and creating new opportunities can come from doing just one more thing. By applying those lessons in our spheres of influence and working together, there is no doubt we can do great things to improve the quality of life in our communities by improving traffic safety.

Leadership education is essential to LEL professional development and will be the focus of the LEL Networking/Training Session being held on March 30, 2019, in conjunction with the 2019 Lifesavers Conference. All LELs are encouraged to take advantage of this opportunity.

Wil Price serves in the Enforcement and Justice Services Division at NHTSA and is NHTSA’s manager of the National Law Enforcement Liaison Program.

Whether we are talking

about a battlefield

commander or a guy

from a small community taking on a seemingly

impossible task, the

lesson here is that there

is always one more thing we can do.

9THE LEL | November 2018 Issue

Partner

Child Endangerment and Impaired Driving

By Colonel (Retired) Ron Replogle

“NOT A SINGLE DROP.” THAT IS the policy Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) recom-mends parents and caregivers adopt on the amount of alcohol that can be consumed before transporting children.

Recognizing the importance of research and program efforts to protect children from being endangered by impaired driv-ers, NHTSA and MADD recently partnered on a project conven-ing a panel of experts to identify the problem and current state of child endangerment due to impaired driving in the United States, to examine if enhancing penalties has been effective, and to determine if these ap-proaches are still appropriate for future efforts.

The Child Endangerment Expert Panel offered specific knowl-

edge and expertise on the topic and helped identify possible solutions. The panel examined issues related to child endan-germent from legislative, law enforcement, judicial/prosecu-torial, child protective service agency, public awareness, and victim perspectives.

Motor vehicle crashes continue to outrank all other injuries and diseases as the major cause of death for children ages 1 and above. The Centers for Disease Control found that one in five deaths of child passengers in crashes are caused by drunk drivers and most often these young victims are passengers in the impaired driver’s vehicle. MADD, NHTSA and the law enforcement community must remain vigilant in efforts to save the lives of children endangered by drunk and drugged drivers, propelling this issue to a na-tional priority.

The work of the Child Endanger-ment Expert Panel has been captured in a 46-page final report that updates the findings of a similar panel convened in 2002. The report provides an

updated review of the issue and includes revised recom-mendations that address the current state of child endan-germent by impaired drivers.

In addition to reiterating some of the findings of the previous report, the update addresses the growing issue of drug-impaired driving. Another important consideration made by the panel is the lack of proper safety age-appropriate restraints (a seat belt or child safety seat), since drinking drivers are much less likely to make sure a child is properly restrained. Specifically, in fatal crashes, drinking drivers had properly restrained their children only 18 percent of the time, compared to 30.5 percent for sober drivers.

The report is a useful re-source for individuals and agencies tasked with keeping children safe on the roads.

Colonel (Retired) Ron Replogle is National Law Enforcement Initiatives Man-ager with MADD.

Motor vehicle crashes

continue to outrank all

other injuries and diseases as the major

cause of death for

children ages 1 and above.

10THE LEL | November 2018 Issue

From theBench

Blood Draws and Implied ConsentBy Judge Neil Edward Axel

MOST STATES HAVE IMPLIED CONSENT

laws that authorize a blood test in impaired driving cases under certain circumstances. Refusing to submit to a test can lead to separate criminal prosecution, loss of license, and evidentiary inferences at trial.

In 2016, the United States Supreme Court applied a balancing test to the question of whether a search warrant was required to obtain a blood sample incident to an impaired driving arrest. The decision in Birchfield v. North Dakota was that the taking of a blood sample constitutes a search for constitutional purposes and therefore the body of law that applies to search and seizure generally would also apply to taking of blood.

The specific issue addressed by the Court was whether a person could be prosecuted criminally for the separate offense of refus-ing to submit to a blood test where the ar-restee refused the test and the police failed to get a search warrant.

In applying Birchfield, several courts have addressed the criminal sanctions for refus-ing a blood test, whether an unconscious driver’s implied consent remains valid as consent for a warrantless blood draw, and whether a refusal can be used in evidence at their impaired driving trial.

The difficulty here is that under constitution-al law, when one consents to a search, they may withdraw that consent at any time. While a person may imply consent to a blood draw upon licensure, they may refuse a test at the

police station and essentially withdraw their previous consent. Under constitutional law, a valid consent for purposes of waiving any requirement for a search warrant requires express consent that is freely and voluntarily given. If the driver is unconscious, the implied consent is not withdrawn, but the driver also has not expressly consented to the search.

Earlier this year, the Vermont Supreme Court held in State v. Raida that Birch-field recognized a constitutional right to re-fuse a warrantless blood test that precludes a separate prosecution for refusing the test but does not prevent the state from intro-ducing evidence at trial of the defendant’s refusal. In reversing the lower court, the Supreme Court held that Birchfield does not prohibit admission of a person’s refusal to submit to a warrantless blood test into evidence at trial. The Court concluded that “the Constitution does not forbid every government-imposed choice in the criminal process that has the effect of discouraging the exercise of constitutional rights.”

The lesson in Birchfield is that absent express consent or exigent circumstances, the Constitution requires a search warrant in order to obtain blood from an impaired driving suspect.

Judge Axel has served on the District Court of Maryland for 21 years, and currently sits as a Senior Judge throughout the state. He is the American Bar Association Judicial Fellow for traffic safety issues.

A valid consent for purposes

of waiving any requirement for

a search warrant requires express

consent that is freely and

voluntarily given.

11THE LEL | November 2018 Issue

Awards& Events

GHSA Honors Highway Safety Leaders in Atlanta

THE GOVERNORS HIGHWAY Safety Association (GHSA) hon-ored six individuals and two pro-grams during an awards luncheon at its 2018 Annual Meeting, held in Atlanta, Georgia. Retired Oklaho-ma County Sheriff John Whetsel, a passionate national advocate for traffic safety, received the Associa-tion’s most prestigious honor, the James J. Howard Highway Safety Trailblazer Award.

Former Missouri highway safety director Leanna Depue received the Kathryn J.R. Swanson Public Service Award for her service to numerous highway safety groups and committees, as well as her work to advance behavioral safety research projects.

Peter K. O’Rourke Special Achievement Awards were presented to the City of Atlanta, for its innovative North Avenue Smart Corridor pilot project; Tom and Arlene Deutscher and Donna and Lynn Mickelson, who have worked tirelessly to fight impaired driving in North Dakota in the wake of personal tragedy; and the New York State Pedes-trian Safety Action Plan, which has brought together numerous state agencies and stakehold-ers to protect the state’s most vulnerable road users.

The luncheon kicked off with remarks from basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal, a guest of sponsor the Foundation for Ad-vancing Alcohol Responsibility. The luncheon was co-sponsored by the National Road Safety Foundation.

IACP Recognizes Two with Baker Award

THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIA-tion of Chiefs of Police (IACP) recognized two individuals with the IACP J. Stannard Baker Individual Achievement in Highway Safety Award at its 2018 Annual Conference and Exposition in Orlando, Florida.

Illinois LEL Supervisor Scott Kristiansen received the award for his traffic safety leadership as the head of the Buffalo Grove, Illinois, Police Department Traffic Unit; his work with police departments on highway safety grants; and for coordinating numerous “how-to” seminars on traffic safety for law enforcement professionals.

Retired Tennessee Highway Patrol Colonel Tracy Trott was honored for his proactive commitment to enforcement efforts that helped the state achieve fatality rates lower than they had been in 50 years, the development of the department’s predictive analyt-ics software program, and his service in leadership positions with traffic safety organiza-tions across the country.

The award honors the late J. Stannard Baker, the “father of crash investigation” who made significant contributions to highway safety.

Caption: Award winners (from left) Lynn and Donna Mickelson, Tom and Arlene Deutscher, Leanna Depue, the City of Atlanta’s Michele Wynn, Sheriff John Whetsel, and the New York State Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee’s Chuck DeWeese.

12THE LEL | November 2018 Issue

TrafficSafety Calendar

A calendar of events, recordings of past webinars, newsletter archives and many more resources for LELs are available at www.nlelp.org. For campaign materials and tools to help you with your traffic safety marketing and messaging, visit www.trafficsafetymarketing.gov.

NOVEMBER

NOVEMBER 11-17TRAFFIC INCIDENT RESPONSE WEEKEvery year hundreds of emergency responders representing fire, law enforcement, emergency medical services, towing and transportation agencies are struck and either injured or killed while responding. Help raise awareness about the dangers emergency responders face at traffic incidents.

NOVEMBER 22THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY TRAVELPrimary Message: Click It or TicketThanksgiving is one of the busiest travel times of the year, and unfortunately more people on the roadways means the potential for more vehicle crashes. For those Americans who aren’t wearing a seat belt, it can cost them their lives.

NOV 23-DEC 11PRE-HOLIDAY SEASON IMPAIRED DRIVING MESSAGINGPrimary Message: Buzzed Driving is Drunk Driving

DECEMBER

DECEMBER 5LEL WEBINAR: CREATING POSITIVE CHANGE IN A CHALLENGING ENVIRONMENT

DEC 12-JAN 1HOLIDAY IMPAIRED DRIVING MESSAGING & MOBILIZATIONPrimary Message: Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over

DECEMBER 19LEL WEBINAR: TEEN DRIVERS: THE SCIENCE BEHIND THEIR INCREASED RISKS

JANUARY

JANUARY 13-17TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH BOARD ANNUAL MEETING

NATIONAL TRAFFIC INCIDENT RESPONSE AWARENESS WEEK

November 11-17, 2018 Traffic Incident Response: Everybody’s ResponsibilityThe nation’s traffic incident response community includes everyone who is involved in or supporting responses to traffic incidents everywhere.

• Drivers • Freight haulers• Towing/Recovery• Firefighters• Emergency Medical• Law Enforcement• Hazmat workers• Communications• Public Works• Constructors• Utility Providers• Transportation/Public Works

This November, we draw attention to our shared interest in roadway safety.

We all need to be better prepared to do what’s right when things go wrong.

Because when things go wrong, every moment and every action can mean life or death.

As soon as a traffic incident occurs, first responders take swift action. Tow trucks are coming. So are police, and fire/rescue folks. The Emergency Medical Services folks are on their way. Public safety communicators and operators in Traffic Management Centers keep us all in the loop. They’re trying to save someone’s mom, or brother, a neighbor, or a friend. And they all need the help of others, including you.

They try to give us as much warning as they can, but until they can, we must act.

As responders, we do our best to protect ourselves and the motorists by taking the moments needed to provide a safe working scene.

As drivers, we slow down and move over to provide a safe place to work to those who are trying to save us and our family and friends.

Everybody’s responsibility for traffic incident response includes every one of us.

Every time.

NATIONAL TRAFFIC INCIDENT RESPONSE AWARENESS WEEK 2018

TRAFFIC INCIDENT RESPONSEEVERYBODY’S RESPONSIBILITY

Ideas To Promote Traffic Incident Response Awareness• Invite public, media, other partners to your facility for

an open house• Offer ride-alongs to give folks an up-close look• Hold an exercise that shows coordination and

training effort• Offer to talk about Traffic Incident Response at a school

or civic club• Participate in or host a mock crash scene in a

public space• Be proactive sharing information on social media• Pitch stories to local news media, web media• Train or host training with the public and other

responders