NHTSA Executive Director Presents Awards At Lifesavers Conference For Safety Accomplishments

NHTSA Executive Director Presents Awards At Lifesavers Conference For Safety Accomplishments

Topics: Robert Shelton

NHTSA Executive Director Presents Awards At Lifesavers Conference For Safety Accomplishments

NHTSA
March 28, 2001

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NHTSA 17-01
Wednesday, March 28, 2001
Contact: NHTSA, Tim Hurd, (202) 366-9550

DENVER - Robert Shelton, executive director of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), late yesterday presented awards honoring individual and group accomplishments in highway safety at the annual Lifesavers conference in Denver.

Lifesavers 2001 is a national four-day conference on highway safety priorities, attended by more than 1,600 people participating in more than 50 workshops and viewing more than 70 exhibits of traffic safety products and programs.

Representatives from the public and private sectors concerned with traffic safety are attending the Lifesavers conference to learn and share information on a wide range of safety topics, from occupant protection and impaired driving to roadway safety and vehicle technology. Attendees include people from community traffic safety programs, state and local emergency medical services, injury prevention programs, state and local law enforcement, federal and state highway agencies, prosecutors and judges, and the automotive and insurance industries.

The NHTSA public service award recipients this year are:

Police Col. Anna J. Amos, South Carolina State Transport Police. Amos led a successful outreach effort aimed at African Americans and Hispanics as a component of South Carolina's Click It or Ticket campaign.

Judge Dorothy M. Baker, Circuit Court of the State of Oregon. Responsible for all DUI offenders in Oregon's most populous county, Baker developed a multi-faceted sentencing program that became a model for other Oregon counties and other states.

Barbara Beckett, executive director, Maryland Committee for Safety Belt Use and Maryland Safe Kids Coalition. Beckett founded the Maryland Safe Kids Coalition and the original "Chiefs Challenge" program. She has spent countless hours educating Maryland citizens and legislators about the importance of buckling up.

Timothy Buche, representing the Motorcycle Safety Foundation, Irvine, Calif. In partnership with NHTSA, the Motorcycle Safety Foundation worked tirelessly to develop the National Agenda for Motorcycle Safety, incorporating the opinions of the motorcycle community to improve motorcycle safety.

The Honorable William A. Crawford, Indiana State Representative. A Representative in the Indiana General Assembly since 1972, Representative Crawford was the chief sponsor of the standard enforcement seat belt legislation that successfully became law in 1998.

Dr. Herman Ellis, chair, Occupational and Preventative Medicine, Meharry Medical College, Nashville, Tenn.; Derrick A. Humphries, Washington, D.C.; and Joann Watson, president, National Black Talk Show Hosts Association, Detroit. Ellis, Humphries and Watson were co-chairs of a blue ribbon panel that addressed the public health issue of increasing seat belt use in the African American community. They led a group of African American leaders in assuring the public of the importance of seat belts and stressed the role they can play in their communities to raise awareness and get more people buckled up.

Dawson Grimsley, general manager, Davis-Moore Auto Group, Wichita, Kan. As a general manager with the Wichita car dealer, Grimsley stopped airing car sale commercials and replaced them with traffic safety messages.

Judge Karl B. Grube, Pinellas County Court, St. Petersburg, Fla. Grube recently led NHTSA's national judicial education and outreach initiatives, which included developing judicial education programs. In his non-judicial role, he developed community programs designed to increase safety belt usage.

Sandy Heverly, executive director, STOP DUI, Las Vegas, Nev. Heverly founded a successful Victim Impact Panel program in Las Vegas that significantly reduced recidivism among DUI offenders.

Bill Lewis, editor, Keller (Texas) Citizen. As a volunteer for Texas Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Lewis has been a significant force in the strengthening of impaired driving laws in Texas.

Fire Lt. Rick Nuanes, Denver Fire Department. On his own time, Nuanes teaches and provides technical assistance in child passenger safety throughout Colorado and other NHTSA Region VIII states.

Kris Piazza, director, THINK FIRST of Western New York. Piazza has been involved with traffic safety prevention efforts for the last 10 years, bringing seat belt and alcohol traffic safety messages to over 10,000 students annually and organizing events that reach another 15,000 people each year in New York.

Police Chief Robert "Reggie" Redfern, Easthampton, Mass., Police Department. Redfern is recognized among traffic safety advocates in New England as one of law enforcement's most passionate and vocal supporters for increasing safety belt use and enacting standard safety belt laws.

Dennis Renville, director, Injury Prevention Program, United Tribes Technical College, Bismarck, N.D. Renville created the applied science degree course in injury prevention at United Tribes Technical College in Bismarck, which is the first program of its kind in the country.

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