SURTCOM Director David Kack traveled to Columbus, Ohio last week for the National Regional Transportation Conference, which is hosted by the National Association of Development Organizations (NADO). David caught up with Lonnie Hunt (center) and Bob Bashaw (right) from the Deep East Texas Council of Governments (DETCOG), which partnered with WTI and SURTCOM on a project to create a voucher program in five counties in southeast Texas. Natalie Villwock-Witte was the PI for the DETCOG project, which won a 2019 Excellence in Regional Transportation Award from the NADO Research Foundation and Rural Planning Organizations of America (RPO America). In total, WTI worked with the NADO Research Foundation on three projects: the DETCOG project; a transit feasibility Study for Lebanon, Missouri (also led by Natalie); and a feasibility study for a commuter transit service between Cortez and Durango, Colorado (led by David). WTI staff Karalyn Clouser, Laura Fay and Rebecca Gleason also contributed to these projects.
Month: June 2019
MDT Launches Wildlife and Transportation Webpage
The Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) has a new webpage dedicated to facilitating collaboration among the many partners working to reduce animal vehicle collisions and enhance wildlife connectivity.
In December 2018, the Montana Wildlife & Transportation Summit (Summit) was held at Carroll College in Helena, Montana. It was co-convened by the Montana Governor’s office, Montana Department of Transportation (MDT), Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP), Western Transportation Institute (WTI), and Montanans for Safe Wildlife Passage (MSWP). The purpose of the Summit was to bring stakeholders together to strengthen working relationships and share information. The long-term goal is to develop strategies to plan and implement wildlife accommodations, reduce animal-vehicle collisions, and protect wildlife and their movement across state highways. The emphasis of this first meeting was to build common ground among stakeholders around wildlife and transportation issues in order to build a foundation to engage additional stakeholders and partner on collaborative initiatives.
To encourage and promote future engagement, MDT has created the “Montana Wildlife and Transportation” webpage. It provides more information about the Summit, including presentations by WTI researchers Marcel Huijser and Rob Ament, and a link to the Montana Wildlife and Transportation Summit Final Report. It will also provide updates on the ongoing activities of the Summit partners, such as committee meetings, guiding documents, and informational resources.
CHSC Announces Summer Webinars
The Center for Health and Safety Culture will host webinars in July and August, based on two of their research and community outreach projects:
Exploring Law Enforcement Attitudes and Beliefs About Traffic Safety Enforcement
July 8, 2019 from 1–2pm MDT
This webinar will summarize the results of a recent project to better understand how the culture within law enforcement agencies impacts engagement in traffic safety enforcement. The project is sponsored by the Traffic Safety Culture Pooled Fund Program hosted by the Montana Department of Transportation.
Reducing Problem Gambling in Oregon
Aug 27, 2019 from 10am – 11am MDT
This webinar will showcase a partnership between the Center for Health and Safety Culture and the Oregon Health Authority that focused on reducing problem gambling throughout Oregon. Join this webinar to hear how this partnership formed, view the tools that were developed, and learn how they’re being used today to reduce problem gambling across the state.
To learn more about and register for both webinars, visit the CHSC webinar page.
Where in the World is WTI? EU Safety Conference Invites CHSC Director to Luxembourg
Center for Health and Safety Culture (CHSC) Director, Dr. Nic Ward, will be a keynote speaker at the EU Safety Conference in Luxembourg in October 2019. Dr. Ward’s presentation is titled, “Safety Culture: Creating a Sense of Responsibility for Safety in the Population at Large.” The Conference, organized by EuroSafe and the Luxembourg Institute of Health, will cover a wide range of topics related to injury prevention and safety promotion, such as road safety and safety at work. There will be opportunities for cross-cutting communications between sectors and disciplines to address issues such as: translating research into practice and policy, injury related socio-economic inequities, ageing societies, technological developments, social marketing, alcohol, fatigue, and distraction. More information about this international conference is available at the EU Safety 2019 website.
Rural Planning Webinar This Week!
The National Center for Rural Road Safety will host a free webinar on “Rural Multimodal Planning” on Thursday June 20 at 11 a.m. (Mountain Time).
This webinar will explore why and how rural communities and small towns should apply more multimodal planning. It will describe current demographic and economic trends that are increasing demands for walking, bicycling and public transit in rural communities; then it will present specific policies and programs that can help create more diverse and efficient transport systems. This presentation is based on research described in the report, “Rural Multimodal Planning” (www.vtpi.org/rmp), and related documents. To learn more and to register, check out the webinar announcement.
Bozeman Commuter Challenge off to great start with Bike Week!
The Bozeman Commuter Challenge kicked off on June 1 with Bike Week. Staff from WTI and the Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) Design Team enthusiastically joined in by leaving their cars at home and cycling to work!
The Challenge runs through June 30, so it’s not too late to join. Log your bike, walk, bus, or carpool trips all month long! Are you signed up at bozemancommute.org? Head there to register, and check out how it works by reading the Challenge FAQs.
Webinar will Showcase Research on Law Enforcement Agency Culture
The Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) will host a webinar featuring research by a team from the Center for Health and Safety Culture. MDT recently released the final report for “Understanding Law Enforcement Attitudes and Beliefs about Traffic Safety,” which aimed to understand how the culture within law enforcement agencies impacts engagement in traffic safety enforcement. CHSC researchers, including Jay Otto, Kari Finley, Kelly Green, and Nic Ward, led the research on behalf of the Traffic Safety Culture Pooled Fund program. The team conducted surveys and interviews with 19 law enforcement agencies in four states to collect data for the assessment.
The webinar, which will provide an overview of the research results, will be held on Monday, July 8. Learn more and sign-up at the registration website. The final research report and a project summary report are available on the MDT project webpage.
Bozeman Commuter Challenge has begun!
It’s on folks! The Bozeman Commuter Challenge kicked off on June 1 and runs through June 30. Log your bike, walk, bus, or carpool trips all month long! Are you signed up at bozemancommute.org? Head there to register, and check out how it works by reading the Commuter Challenge fact sheet.
For the first week, check out the daily activities for Bike Week. Lots of local businesses will be offering free coffee, snacks or other surprises during morning or evening commute hours.
WTI is a partner with the Bozeman Commuter Project for this event, so let’s do our part!
CHSC Releases Training Videos for Health and Safety Professionals
The Center for Health and Safety Culture (CHSC) has released online resources called “Brief Spotlight Videos,” which address key topics on a variety of critical public health and safety issues. The videos provide practical tips and ideas for practitioners who address these issues on a daily basis.
The Spotlights include:
- Applying Motivational Interviewing to Advocate for the Positive
- Meetings 101
- Medication Assisted Treatment
- Networks and Buy-Ins
- Adverse Childhood Experiences
- Stigma Training Series (six videos)
The Spotlights can be viewed at https://chsculture.org/trainings/brief-spotlight-videos/.
MSU News Highlights New Book on Traffic Safety Culture
Thank you, Montana State University News, for your feature article on the new Traffic Safety Culture book. MSU News interviewed CHSC Director Nic Ward for “MSU Researcher Co-authors Book on New Approach to Traffic Safety,” which was featured on the MSU News website. “It’s a new way of looking at an old problem,” said Ward; “Traffic safety has traditionally looked at engineering, enforcement and education as a way to make drivers behave safely. Because most crashes are the result of driver behavior, it is imperative to understand how culture influences driver behavior.”
Traffic Safety Culture: Definition, Foundation, and Application includes major contributions by the staff of the Center for Health and Safety Culture. CHSC Director Nic Ward was one of the three book editors and co-authored several chapters. Center staff and affiliated Montana State University faculty who also co-authored book chapters include Jay Otto, Kari Finley, Kelly Green, Eric Austin, and William Schell. (Legal disclaimer: Editors receive a royalty payment from the publisher.)