Traffic Safety: Looking beyond 2001

The American Traffic Safety Services Association (ATSSA) will host a roadway safety convention and exhibition, Traffic Expo, Feb. 16-20. This year's convention and Traffic Expo, the 31st in ATSSA's 32-year history, will be held in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.

ATSSA members have a goal this year to save more lives on the U.S. roadways than ever before. This goal may be reached through ATSSA-member products and services and other creative and wide-reaching association efforts.

"When I first came to ATSSA three years ago, several of our members mentioned the Traffic Expo was the same year after year," said Roger Wentz, executive director of the 1,800-member association.

Since the arrival of Wentz, the last few years have not only seen new innovations, technology and products introduced to the world through Traffic Expo, but ATSSA members have a unique opportunity to showcase and demonstrate their products to an ever-growing number of attendees.

This year, for example, a New Products Showcase has been created to allow those who pre-register an opportunity to display a special placard at their booth indicating their company has developed a creative new product or service since last year's Traffic Expo. In addition to the placard, these exhibitors also will have their product name, a full product description and their respective booth number published in the Convention Program and Exhibit Guide in order to call Traffic Expo attendees' immediate attention to their new products.

"This is a great way to flag what's new to the industry and to give members immediate attention as people visit the Traffic Expo and set out to explore the massive show floor," Wentz added.

A similar effort, the New Product Press Conference, is a separate event scheduled for Feb. 20 that allows companies an opportunity to display their products via brief demonstrations and presentations to the media and guests in attendance. Last year's press conference immediately put many ATSSA members into the media spotlight nationwide through ITS World, local newspapers and television programs who learned for the first time of their products and services as a result of this event.

Numerous workshops have been arranged beginning Feb. 18. These seminars allow attendees to discuss and learn a wide range of roadway safety issues of importance. There will be something for everyone, from work-zone safety, to the NCHRP 350 Report, to retroreflectivity. These topics and many more will be covered in tightly packed, fast-paced interactive forums.

Perhaps one of the biggest issues to be discussed among attendees this year will be the new millennium edition of the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD), A double session workshop, scheduled for Feb. 19, has been set aside to cover the significant changes contained in the new manual. More importantly, helping the industry better understand this particular issue, and others like it, does not end when Traffic Expo concludes.

The theme of the sold-out 2001 Traffic Expo is "Safety Through The Ages," a motto selected to recognize the importance of roadway safety issues among all drivers, from the young to the growing population of elderly drivers nationwide. The theme will be carried by the association for the remainder of the year and beyond.

So much emphasis will be placed on the MUTCD this year, for example, that ATSSA was asked by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to conduct a March 20 nationwide videoconference on the MUTCD. Several FHWA staff members, the actual drafters of the document, will present the manual during the broadcast, while simultaneously taking questions from the field via toll-free telephone numbers.

"Times have changed," said Shelley Row, director of the FHWA's Office of Transportation Operations. "Congestion is a national issue, technology is pushing us in new directions. There are more work zones than ever before and transportation professionals must respond to increasing demands. It's time for a new manual," she said.

Row has handpicked the FHWA panel who will present the manual during the nationwide broadcast.

The broadcast will be held March 20 from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. EST. It will be aired from Northern Virginia Community College in Annandale, Va., to downlink sites across the country, including Puerto Rico and Hawaii.

Wentz asserts that months of planning have gone into this broadcast.

"This is a national television broadcast. In addition to scripting the program and doing all the pre-production, ATSSA and FHWA will conduct rehearsals, media training and various checks and tests to ensure we get out all the critical information in the time allowed," Wentz said.

Following the broadcast, copies of the show will be available via ATSSA's website (www.atssa.com). Further information on the broadcast, including instructions as to how to become a downlink site, also are available at the ATSSA website.

ATSSA training and certification is yet another tool at ATSSA members' disposal for 2001 and beyond.

ATSSA's Director of Training Donna Clark reports over 30,000 men and women trained and certified across the country in work-zone traffic control technician, work-zone traffic control supervisor and flagger courses. ATSSA courses are presented by knowledgeable, experienced and respected instructors who are unwavering in terms of industry standards, rules and guidelines designed to save lives.

"These courses are not designed to be easy," said Clark. "They are designed to save lives. Those who become ATSSA certified would be instantly recognized as the man or woman qualified to do the job safely. No other course can offer this type of recognition or status, nor does any other curriculum hold so many years of experience as its foundation."

This year's training goals are set even higher, as ATSSA training is now accepted and, more importantly, recognized as the primary training curriculum in many states. ATSSA training courses are now available in Spanish to bring ATSSA training to greater numbers of workers in the field.

ATSSA President Dennis "Chip" Sterndahl will host the Opening General Session Breakfast meeting on Feb. 18.

Sterndahl will cover many important issues in his remarks during the breakfast. He also will introduce to the industry the first look at the new retroreflectivity educational video "Night Lights," and will challenge guests to play an active role in National Work Zone Awareness Week. This year the event is scheduled for April 9-13, again as a nationwide effort to make roadways safer for all drivers and workers of all ages.

"I realize many states observe this event at different times throughout the year," Sterndahl said. "I encourage everyone who participates to share their success stories with their peers in the industry until we reach the point where all states in the country are doing something locally to make the public aware of the alarming statistics of death and injuries in work zones."

The 1999 national statistics reveal over 800 people were killed in work zones across the country, higher than the 1998 figures. ATSSA signed a cooperative agreement with FHWA and the American Association of State Highway & Transportation Officials on Dec. 15, 1999, designating National Work Zone Awareness Week as an annual event. The initial 1999 kick-off ceremony in Springfield, Va., was witnessed by hundreds of guests including the media, law enforcement officials and families of work-zone workers killed or injured while on the job.

"It was an emotional, heartfelt ceremony," Sterndahl said. "If we changed the way some motorists view work zones that week, we were successful. But, we must do more in 2001 and again in the following years. More lives will be saved if we educate all our drivers and make them aware of this growing problem. Together, we will make a difference, and will make our nation's roadways safer for drivers of all ages."