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Team shares strategies at annual safety summit

Sharing ideas for eliminating motor-vehicle deaths on Idaho highways brought more than 220 law enforcement officers and highway safety professionals together as “One Team” for the 2013 Highway Safety Summit recently in Coeur d’Alene.

The summit was hosted by ITD’s Office of Highway Safety and provided participants with innovative, results-oriented solutions to eliminate fatalities and reduce injuries caused by motor vehicle crashes.

A primary topic was keeping law enforcement officers safe in the line of duty.

Capt. Travis Yates, from Oklahoma, helped develop an initiative to reduce officer line-of-duty deaths in America to below 100 per year. “Below 100” is about every officer, trainer and supervisor taking responsibility for decisions and actions that contribute to safety and support a culture of safety.

“Make doing the right thing so ingrained in your personnel that it becomes the norm and not the exception,” Yates writes. “Just as important, hold accountable those who stray outside of what should be common sense.”

Safety advocate Kimberly Schlau told the group about the deaths of her two daughters, Jessica and Kelli, who were killed in 2007 in a head-on crash with a police vehicle. They were struck by an Illinois state trooper driving 126 miles per hour responding to an accident scene that already had been secured by first responders.

The trooper was talking on his personal cell phone while driving at the high rate of speed, lost control of his vehicle and crossed the median, striking the girls’ car and killing them instantly.

Keynote speaker Viliami Tuivai, or “Coach V,” brought the group a message of motivation and inspiration with “Life Characteristics that Yield Championship Results.”

Breakout sessions provided attendees a look at Highway Safety’s “Data-Driven Process for Highway Safety Corridor Analysis.” Attendees also discussed “Effective Strategies for Nighttime Seat Belt Enforcement,” and Idaho’s Alive at 25 young driver education program.

Participants also looked at the health and safety issues of designer drugs and discussed overcoming the challenges of marijuana-impaired driving cases.

Other breakout sessions addressed community messages, the value of victim impact panels, motorcycle safety and the "mysteries of the traffic stop."

“Beyond the Traffic Stop Awards” were presented to five Idaho law enforcement officers:

Cpl. Aaron Bingham, Idaho State Police (ISP) District 4
Officer Travis Poore, Nampa Police Department
Officer Brad Barnum, Nampa Police Department
Trooper Kevin Kessler, ISP District 1, and
Cpl. Travis Nalder, ISP District 5.

Photos: Safety advocate Kimberly Schlau relived the horrific crash that claimed her two daughters (above left); featured speaker Viliami Tuivai provided a motivational message to law enforcement officers and highway safety professionals (bottom right); more than 220 people focused on highway safety issues at the summit (top); ITD’s Law Enforcement Liaison partners (l to r): Officer Nick Knoll, Coeur d’Alene Police Department; Lt. Kevin Haight, Idaho State Police Region 4; Sgt. Ted Piche, Lewiston Police Department; Deputy Chad Morgan, Bingham County Sherriff’s Office; Lt. Cameron Stanford, Madison County Sheriff’s Office; and Officer Kyle Wills, Boise Police Department (bottom).