Learn from the Safest

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.