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Transportation board to meet with traffic safety commission

The Idaho Transportation Board will participate in a highway safety workshop with the Idaho Traffic Safety Commission on Wednesday (Oct. 20) at the DoubleTree Riverside in Boise.

The workshop will provide board members valuable information about highway safety and programs to reduce traffic deaths, serious injuries and economic losses to Idaho as the Strategic Highway Safety Plan is implemented.

The agenda features Pam Holt, Trauma Prevention Services Coordinator, from St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Missouri. Holt was well received when she spoke at the April Highway Safety Summit. Her presentation is titled “Crash Test Dummies Up Close and Personal”.

Some of Idaho’s emphasis areas, such as aggressive driving, distracted driving, and impaired driving, also will be covered in the workshop.

Other board discussion

Public involvement process plan
The department is required to have a documented public involvement process that provides early and continuous opportunities for public involvement. It also requires the department to provide timely information about transportation issues and decision-making processes.

ITD staff will present the Public Involvement Process Plan to the board at its meeting on the Thursday during its regular meeting in the Headquarters auditorium. The purpose of the plan is to demonstrate and document how ITD conducts its public participation process. The plan details opportunities for public involvement as the long-range transportation plan, modal plans, and the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program are developed. The plan is intended to establish a proactive public involvement process that provides information, timely public notice, and full public access to key decisions, and supports early and continuing involvement of the public.

Commercial motor vehicle safety
Sharing the road with large commercial motor vehicles can be intimidating for some drivers. It also can be dangerous if motorists aren’t aware of issues truckers have to deal with, such as not being able to stop as quickly as passenger cars, needing a wide radius to turn, and bigger blind spots that make passenger vehicles more difficult to see.

Although the Idaho State Police (ISP) oversees the Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Program, ITD is an important partner. Commercial motor vehicle safety is one of the Office of Highway Operations and Safety’s emphasis areas. In 2008, commercial motor vehicles were involved in 36 highway fatalities and 99 serious injuries.

ITD staff will provide an overview on activities to promote commercial motor vehicle safety, including ISP’s campaign “Leave More Room for Trucks,” currently under way. The focus of the campaign is to target aggressive drivers operating near commercial vehicles. ISP also is developing a new media program geared toward teenage drivers and texting around trucks.