Safety Awareness

VOLUME 2, ISSUE 3

Traffic safety experts at the Center for Transportation Safety (CTS) had a busy spring hosting safety events around Texas.

“Public education and outreach are valuable tools we use in conjunction with research to improve the safety of our roadways,” says CTS Director Robert Wunderlich. “The U in the Driver Seat Symposium, Teens in the Driver Seat Summit, Impaired Driving Forum and Motorcycle Safety Forums are outstanding examples of the ways we are creating awareness about these safety issues.”

Scroll over the tabs below to read about and view photos from each event.

UDS Symposium

Impaired Driving Forum

Motorcycle Safety Forum

TDS Summit

The U in the Driver Seat (UDS) Program at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) held its annual Peer-to-Peer Impaired Driving Prevention Symposium at Texas A&M University–San Antonio March 31–April 2.

“TTI is taking the lead in helping keep our college students safe on the roadway,” said John Sharp, chancellor of The Texas A&M University System. “UDS is helping save young Texans by educating them about the dangers of driving under the influence. We are pleased that seven of our system universities are taking part in this growing program.”

In addition to their peers from other Texas colleges, representatives from Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi, Texas A&M University at Galveston, Texas A&M University–Kingsville, Prairie View A&M University, Texas A&M University–San Antonio, West Texas A&M University and Texas A&M International University attended the symposium, which provides attendees with the tools to raise awareness of the consequences of driving impaired.

The symposium featured speakers, breakout sessions and interactive activities targeted at convincing college-aged drivers in the San Antonio area and around Texas that they have the power to lower those statistics — in effect, to save their own lives and the lives of other drivers and passengers on the road. Breakout sessions, for example, addressed how students can take the lead on their local campuses to positively influence their peers and debunk myths associated with drugs and alcohol and their effects on drivers.

Russell Henk For More Information

6 - 8

On April 27, the Texas A&M Transportation Institute and the Texas Department of Transportation hosted the annual Texas Statewide Impaired Driving Forum. The forum addressed current challenges associated with the impaired driving problem in Texas and related countermeasures.

Session speakers covered topics on drug-impaired driving trends, DWI pre-trial intervention programs, data-driven approaches to impaired driving, and impacts of outreach programs, like Teens in the Driver Seat.

“The best way to combat the impaired driving problem is for us to share successful countermeasures in environments like the Statewide Impaired Driving Forum,” said Troy Walden, director of the Center for Alcohol and Drug Education.

Troy Walden For More Information

1 - 5

Safety advocates gathered on May 20, 2016 in Austin, Texas, for the 11th annual Texas Motorcycle Safety Forum.

Each year, the forum is held to bring together those interested in motorcycling and motorcycle safety to discuss opportunities and initiatives to reduce the likelihood of motorcycle crashes, injuries and fatalities in Texas.

This year’s speakers included:

• Michael Manser with the Human Factors Program and the Center for Transportation Safety at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI).

• D.J. Jeffries with the Traffic Safety Section of the Texas Department of Transportation.

• Chris Beireis, chair of the Texas Motorcycle Safety Coalition.

• Eva Shipp with the Crash Analysis Program and the Center for Transportation Safety at TTI.

• Kirk Watson, state senator for Texas District 14.

• Chiara Silvestri-Dobrovolny with Roadside Safety at TTI.

• John Young with the Texas Department of Public Safety.

• Paige Ericson-Graber with the Center for Alcohol and Drug Education Studies and the Center for Transportation Safety at TTI.

Mike ManserFor More Information

2 - 5

Nearly 200 student leaders Texas and around the nation attended the annual Teens in the Driver Seat (TDS) Summit held May 15–17 at the Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine, Texas. TDS, a peer-to-peer teen driver safety program, brought together a variety of teen traffic safety experts and interactive safety exhibits, as well as recognized students and other program partners for their dedication to improving teen driver safety in their local communities. Recognition at the event included a wide variety of awards and college scholarships.

“Each year we bring our student advocates together to show appreciation for their efforts to champion safer driving behaviors to their peers,” says TDS Director Russell Henk, manager of the Texas A&M Transportation Institute’s Youth Transportation Safety Program.

About 2,800 U.S. teens die each year in car crashes; that’s the equivalent of a school bus loaded with teenagers crashing once every week for an entire year. Since Henk founded TDS in 2002, the program has won more than 20 local, state and national awards and is recognized as a national best practice program for teen driver safety. During that same period, Texas has seen a 70 percent decrease in the frequency of fatal crashes involving 15- to 17-year-old drivers to date.

Teens attending the summit participated in informational sessions and activities to educate and encourage them to be safer drivers. Activities included TDS’s DWI simulator, which demonstrates the adverse impacts of impaired driving. Students also drove pedal karts [MB4]through an obstacle course while wearing Fatal Vision [MB5](drunk) goggles, where they learned firsthand the effects of alcohol on vision and motor skills. A feature of the obstacle course provided hands-on experience with the adverse impacts of texting while driving.

Russell Henk For More Information

10 - 15