Imagine a motorist cited by a police officer for speeding in
a work zone who is later told in court by a judge to attend a refresher course
that focuses on work-zone safety and awareness.
That's precisely what the American Traffic Safety Services
Association (ATSSA) is hoping will occur in the near future with the
association's new "Work Zone Traffic Violator Awareness Program"
serving as that refresher course.
Through a joint effort with David Rush, senior
transportation engineer with the Virginia Department of Transportation, ATSSA's
Roadway Safety Training Institute developed a detailed curriculum and an
accompanying 90-minute CD-ROM to use in driver improvement programs, similar to
courses like Virginia's Alcohol Safety Action Program's "Ordered Driver
Improvement Course," a basic driver improvement study for those referred
by a court for minor traffic violations.
The ATSSA CD-ROM and course materials contain information to
help motorists become aware of work-zone hazards, while offering safe driving
tips and steps motorists can take to ensure safe transit through roadway work
zones. But the course isn't all statistics and tips. It also contains an
emotional testimonial from a young woman whose father was killed in a work-zone
accident, as well as the North Carolina Department of Transportation-produced
video "A Sudden Change of Plans." The goal of the new ATSSA course is
to raise awareness of the presence of roadway workers in work zones, the
dangers of driving in work zones and steps drivers can take to help them travel
safely through work zones. ATSSA hopes the course will reduce the number of
work-zone accidents, injuries and fatalities for years to come.
"Motorists are so used to work zones, many take them
for granted and ignore the warnings that are in place," said ATSSA's
Director of Training Donna Clark. "This course helps remind motorists that
work zones are dangerous and require full attention when passing through."
The course has been brought to law enforcement, schools,
DOTs and department of motor vehicle officials. It is ATSSA's hope that the
course will eventually make it to classrooms nationwide to help educate those
motorists who speed, drive recklessly, follow too close or drive aggressively
in work zones.
The Illinois DOT, for example, is currently modifying the
course to make it "Illinois unique." Once this is accomplished, the
DOT will distribute the course materials to approximately 1,000 public and
private high schools statewide.
"It's our hope that we will get to the point where
motorists convicted of infractions in work zones would be directed by judges to
attend this course," said Clark. "After they complete the course,
they would return to the court with a certificate that verifies they have
completed the course, then, ideally, points on their license or a reduction in
the fine would occur as a tradeoff. The real payoff is the motorist will have
received work-zone awareness training that will hopefully save lives."
Course of action
The course was piloted last year with representatives from
the Stafford County, Va., Sheriff's Department. The deputies who reviewed the
course, all very active locally in citing errant motorists in roadway work
zones, provided important information to ATSSA and suggestions before the
training department took the course to the next level-introducing the materials
in a classroom setting.
"We understand that roadway work zones are here to stay
for the unforeseeable future and you literally cannot make even a short trip
without encountering one of them," said Stafford County Sheriff Charles E.
Jett. "ATSSA's to-the-point course will undoubtedly save lives, and any
driver education teacher should welcome it for incorporation into their
curriculum."
And that is exactly what happened.
Clark and Rush brought the course materials to local high
schools in Stafford County and met with driver education teachers. What they
found was the teachers are constantly looking for fresh training materials to
add to their existing curricula.
They also discovered that the existing driver education
curriculum for high school students only contained a brief mention of roadway
work zones. Teachers asked if they could expand that particular portion of
their existing course with information provided by ATSSA.
"This course can be easily placed into an existing
driver education curriculum, either in full, or in part," said Clark.
ATSSA sees other possible instructors of this course to
include police officers, defensive driving instructors, public officials and
ATSSA members themselves.
The course begins with a 25-question student assessment to
measure the student's knowledge of work-zone safety issues. During the course,
the instructor covers all of the supporting material for the questions. At the
end of the full 90-minute course, the students take the assessment again,
usually achieving positive results.
Other Stafford County-area teachers learned of the course,
contacted ATSSA and were immediately provided course materials for their
classrooms at the beginning of the 2003 school year. Clark and Rush also
discovered that the driver education teachers-in their off-time-also are
certified instructors in driver improvement clinics, the clinics that
alcohol-related offenders are directed to attend by judges. The teachers felt
ATSSA's idea to ask judges to direct work-zone offenders to the new course was
a good one and suggested the course materials be presented to Virginia traffic
judges in the form of a workshop at their annual conference. The ATSSA staff is
currently pursuing this objective.
The ATSSA staff also has met with representatives from the
Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles to present to them the course materials.
Again, those meetings ended with positive results and interest by the DMV to
incorporate more work-zone-related materials into both training materials and
within driver's license study guides.
The course is completely developed and is available to ATSSA
members and schools at a minimal price. Over the next several months, ATSSA
staff will continue to introduce the course to other organizations with a
long-range goal of taking the course to a national level.
To obtain the Work Zone Traffic Violator Awareness Program,
contact ATSSA's Roadway Safety Training Institute at 877/642-4637.
