Summer is Almost Here, and Driver Safety is in the Air!!

Along with our many community partners, Palouse Regional Transportation Planning Organization will be in attendance for the second consecutive year at the fourth annual Pullman Community Safety Fair organized by the WSU, to promote our Palouse Driver Safety Campaign to the community. The campaign is currently in its third year, which serves as the public awareness campaign for the region with the sole purpose of instilling good driving behaviors amongst our local and regional drivers. Improve driver awareness amongst Young, distracted, and drowsy drivers, and reduce fatal and serious injury crashes for the Palouse region.

The safety fair will take place on Saturday, June 22nd, 10am-2pm at the Brelsford Visitor Center. This is a family-oriented fair, with emphasis on various safety awareness, including direct safety education, and is free to the community.

Our booth will be located inside the center with the other informational booths, and the display will contain driver safety awareness material, distracted driving stats, safe driving pledges, and our popular driving simulator--make sure to take a spin, bring your kids along. Our driving simulator will be located next to our booth (just like last year). Besides us, there will be plenty of interactive activities: Bike Rodeo/Drone Activity (SBC/PPD); Burning House/Fire Hose Activity, Extinguisher Demo, Agility Training Course (PFD), and the first-responder vehicles.

The fair will also have a grand raffle and prizes throughout the day, including delicious refreshments. The Center is also providing various snacks and drinks, including Cougar Gold Cheese!

We invite you to join us to participate and learn about driver safety in the summer through our Campaign. Don't forget to visit and follow us on our social media "Palouse Driver Safety" and our wayfinding website with live tweets, live cameras and various safety tips and materials for Pullman travelers at www.safepalousedrivers. com.

We hope many local and regional community partners will make this day fun for you and your family.

See You at the Fair!

Evolution of Safety and Driving

Following last month's Driver Safety Awareness Campaign, the PRTPO can't stress enough the fundamentals of safety and automobiles. As a driving culture, we have made developmental leaps in both, since the advent of the "driving machine" in the nineteenth century. It seems one was born from the other out of necessity. If we look back through the history of the automobile, we find safety became paramount:

• 1885, First seat belt patent filed. Compulsory, some of those early vehicles had no doors!
• 1901, Connecticut was the first state to enact speed limits, in the city and county. They learned quickly, no matter how exhilarating it was to feel the wind in your hair, that "Speed Kills."
• 1910, New York City was first on the books with drunk driving laws. Again, realizing the two don't mix and, unfortunately, to this day, like texting-considered the modern-day drunk driving-and driving, we have trouble, psychologically, permanently dividing the two.
• 1930, 3-way traffic signals were introduced in the United States.
• 1951, Airbags are invented, most people are under the impression airbags came much later, it took a while to perfect the technology which mechanically evolved in 1968.
• Department of Transportation is created in 1966 by Congress to ensure the efficiency, safety, accessibility and convenience of a national transportation system vital to US interests.
• 1970, the National Highway Traffic Safety Act (NHTSA) is established and responsible for reducing deaths, injuries, and economic losses resulting from motor vehicle collisions, including promoting consumer safety awareness, vehicle safety standards, enforcing fuel economy standards and anti-theft regulations among many other functions.

The list goes on and on: 1985, Vince and Larry Ad Campaign, "You Can Learn A Lot From a Dummy," 1996, Side impact testing, 2003, the Click It or Ticket seat belt campaign, 2008, 5-star safety ratings standards are elevated for consumer awareness. Which brings us to the Distracted Driving Campaign in 2009 where President Obama signed an Executive Order directing Federal employees, while, basically, using company equipment/vehicles on company time to cease texting, it started the proverbial ball rolling. 

(Ref:Resource material retrieved from: https://one.nhtsa/timeline/index.html)

Even with these consistent efforts throughout the years, the numbers of needless deaths continue to rise due to distracted driving. If there is anything we have learned from this history or rather, driving lesson, is that when we step anywhere close to a moving vehicle, it's important to remember, safety first! In a pre-flight safety check on an airplane, one must carefully check off each task to make sure the aircraft is in proper working order before takeoff. It is requisite. The NTSB statistics show it is safer to fly than to drive. Perhaps it is time to implement such a list before entering an automobile, a list that includes, at the very top: Cell phone OFF, cell phone in the glove box, cell phone locked in the trunk! We are all aware; there are plenty of other distractions while driving, let's make using a device, talking on the phone one less distraction, the one distraction that can, literally, save your life and the lives of others. It is a point we'll continue to drive home long after Driver Safety Awareness Month, because, we want you to get home, safely. 

For additional life-saving information, please visit us on social media and our website, www.safepalousedrivers.com, Distracted, Drowsy & Inexperienced Drivers.

Spring 2019 Graduation Commencement around the corner...

The school year is almost to an end for most Cougs and Vandals on the Palouse. The Palouse RTPO and Palouse Driver Safety Campaign wishes all students, families, and local/regional drivers a safe journey to their destinations, while in town visiting, and back home to their destination.

As we are coming closer to Washington State University’s (WSU) and University of Idaho’s (U of I) Graduation Commencement, WSU on Saturday, May 4^th and U of I on Saturday, May 11^th, more families and friends will be in the town of both graduation commencement date weekends. It is essential to think ahead and look for the road hazards and give yourself ample time to get to your destination. Our region usually expects heavy traffic before and after all commencement time frames.

Some critical announcements to take note on during WSU’s Graduation Commencement this weekend is that starting on Friday, May 3^rd, North Fairway Road from Stadium Way to Fairway Lane will be blocked off to accommodate setup for Commencement. Parking along the road South of Beasley Coliseum will be unavailable all day.

If you were wondering about parking during WSU’s Graduation Commencement day, there would be no parking permit required. However, there are designated general parking highlighted in yellow available for families and friends, in the map provided to the left. Disability parking spaces are located North and East of Beasley Coliseum. Attendants will be available to help direct traffic to available parking.

For more information about Spring Commencement parking at WSU, click here or contact the WSU Transportation Office in advance.

To all Cougs and Vandals from the Class of 2019, congratulations on graduating!

Our team here at the Palouse Driver Safety Campaign wishes you all the best in your future endeavors. We hope we can continue to make impacts beyond this chapter of your lives, to help keep drivers safe and attentive, and to instill a change in driver behaviors. Again, please drive safe as we approach busy times of the year and different weather conditions. Think ahead, leave early, and arrive at your destination safely.

PS: Don’t forget to like, share and follow us on social media “Palouse Driver Safety” for important traffic and driver safety updates.