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September 2021
No matter their age, your children rely on you to keep them safe. Many times, injuries and deaths can be prevented by proper use of car seats, boosters, and seat belts. Child Passenger Safety Week, during September 19-25, helps parents and caregivers learn about proper car seat installation, and how to use car seats correctly.
Car crashes are a leading cause of death for children, according to the latest NHTSA data. A child is involved in a crash while riding in a passenger vehicle, on average, every 25 seconds. When installed correctly, car seats can reduce the risk of fatal injury in a crash by 71% for infants and by 54% for toddlers.
Learn more about selecting the right seat for your child and schedule a car seat check with a certified technician to ensure your seat is installed correctly.
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 Motor Carriers Promoting Safety
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is continuing with its campaign, Our Roads, Our Safety, a national safety campaign to raise awareness about sharing the road safely with large trucks and buses. It showcases the challenges road users face – along with safety tips – from the perspectives of every road user. Bottom line: share the road safely!
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 Labor Day Weekend
However you decide to celebrate the Labor Day holiday weekend, remember to plan a sober ride home before you leave for the party or campground. The national enforcement mobilization "Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over" goes into effect across the country Aug. 18 to Sept. 6 to raise awareness about one of the deadliest and most often committed - yet preventable – of crimes: impaired driving. Celebrate Labor Day, but celebrate safely.
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School Routes Are Everywhere - Drive Like It!
Did you know? Many kids will be returning to in-person learning this Fall – from kindergartners to high school – and will be walking, biking, and rolling through your neighborhood. Stop and stay stopped for people in crosswalks. Be alert for school buses: when overhead lights flash yellow, prepare to stop; when they flash red, stop. Obey school crossing guards – their job is to help students safely cross the street. Slow down and avoid distractions to help keep everyone safe. School routes are everywhere. Drive like it.
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Virtual Safety Town
With a goal to teach children about the importance of safety, City of Eugene has brought the Safety Town experience online in a virtual environment to allow everyone to participate! Parents can view informative and educational videos, and materials online related to important Safety Town topics. Information covered includes bicycle and pedestrian safety, fire safety, meet a police officer/tour a police car, school bus safety, to name a few.
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Pandemic Set Off Deadly Rise in Speeding
Oregon is seeing a higher number of highway deaths even though there were fewer miles driven during the pandemic. Traffic data indicates the higher death toll was related to higher average speeds in conjunction with more people driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol and a slight decline in seatbelt use. Traffic safety advocates are concerned as the Labor Day holiday weekend approaches and roads get busy during the final stretch of summer travel.
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Kickoff is Right Around the Corner
UO and OSU are kicking off their football season, so plan now to travel safe on game day. An estimated 30,000 additional vehicles typically converge on I-5 and roads leading to Eugene and Corvallis when home games occur on the same day for UO and OSU and you may see an increase in traffic congestion. This year, both universities have home games on September 18 and November 13. The annual Civil War football game is in Eugene on November 27.
On game day, leave early and be patient and alert so you can react to sudden stops in traffic and quick lane changes by other vehicles. Leave plenty of distance between you and others on the road. Avoid distractions and buckle up every trip, every time. Make sure to have a sober, rested driver behind the wheel of your vehicle before and after the game.
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ODOT Regions Partner Up in County Fair Collaboration
For the first time in at least 25 years since ODOT regions have participated in county fairs, two regions combined resources to collaborate and coordinate ODOT participation in the Jackson County Fair in July and in the Union County Fair in August! In both locations, the booths were staffed by ODOT employees and an occasional family member, coordinated by the Region 3 Transportation Safety Coordinator Rosalee Senger and the Region 5 Transportation Safety Coordinator Billie-Jo Nickens who worked side-by-side at each fair. Each region saw the benefits of the collaboration and hope to continue these efforts in the years to come to increase the public’s awareness of our agency and the work we do, with a consistent focus on safety.
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Motorcycle Safety
Oregon Transportation Safety Committee member Marian Owens was looking for a unique way to get motorcycle riders’ attention, so she turned to the tested, tried, and true Burma Shave sign approach to encourage safe and sober riding during the A.B.A.T.E. Southern Oregon Summer Run motorcycle rally held in Glendale, Oregon. In partnership with the A.B.A.T.E. event organizers and at Owens’ invitation, ODOT Motorcycle Safety staffed an informational booth promoting hydration and sharing information about the leading causative factors related to fatal Oregon motorcycle crashes (drug/alcohol impairment and speeding).
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Resources
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