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OHS Manager John Tomlinson (mic) with Twin Falls Police Chief Craig Kingsbury at the Summit April 10-11.

Highway safety partners Shift Towards Zero at annual summit

One team, one mission. That was the cheer as the Office of Highway Safety (OHS) welcomed partners from around the state to the 2018 Highway Safety Summit.

The event theme “Shifting Towards Zero,” gave staff from OHS the opportunity to share their new program SHIFT Idaho to more than 200 hundred law enforcement officers, highway safety professionals and other partners.

“SHIFT is really just our new engaged driving initiative,” said OHS Communication Manager Ken Corder. “What we’re really trying to get people to do is focus on what’s going right instead of what we’re doing wrong.”

SHIFT is a program that uses positive messaging to build better behaviors on Idaho roads. During the summit, law enforcement officers and other attendees learned how to use the positive messaging platform as they interact with the public.

“It’s important to understand that it’s all of our responsibility and every driver has the potential to affect every other driver,” said Idaho State Police Colonel Kedrick Wills.

“It’s important to understand if we’re going to be a part of this great community we call Idaho, we have got to understand how our actions impact others and we’re not in silos here.”

The event featured keynote presentations by a pair of former Boise State University Broncos. First, former defensive standout and 2007 Fiesta Bowl MVP Marty Tadman. After sharing his story of how football provided him a platform to make a positive impact on others, he called upon law enforcement officers to use their role to do the same.

Tadman was followed by former BSU football “Coach V” Viliami Tuivai whose presentation “Life Champion” shared a five-phase program to overcome adversity and achieve their desired results. In addition to the morale-building keynote presentations, attendees took part in several workshops meant to give them the tools and reinforcement to keep roads safe as they returned home.

“That’s the intent of this event is truly to have everyone come together and share best practices and go back to their locations and really feel revived and feel passionate about their craft again,” Corder said. “When we’re all on the same page, one team one mission – good things can happen."