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State Highway Safety Office details behavior campaigns, enforcement support and new tools
Summary
The State Highway Safety Office described school-based distracted-driving education, a statewide DriveWell Vermont campaign, a voluntary NHTSA impaired-driving assessment, procurement of 200 preliminary breath testers, and plans for an impaired-driving task force to lower mid-range alcohol-impaired fatality rates.
Allison Laflamme, administrator of the State Highway Safety Office at the Vermont Agency of Transportation, told committee members that the office drafts the three-year highway safety plan and annual grant applications required by NHTSA and coordinates behavioral programs that complement infrastructure investments.
Laflamme said the office cannot use its federal grant funds for infrastructure but works closely with VTrans on complementary programs. She highlighted school-based victim-testimony programs, a statewide DriveWell Vermont media and toolkit library, and a motorcycle-education push after a motorcycle-assessment showed elevated risk.
To support enforcement, Laflamme said the office conducted a voluntary NHTSA assessment of drug-recognition and advanced roadside testing, funded upgrades to forensic lab data terminals and certification, and made a bulk purchase of 200 preliminary breath testing devices (PBTs) for statewide distribution. "Instead of waiting till this spring to get those out, we did a bulk purchase of 200 PBTs and we have been distributing those statewide to our partners," she told the committee.
Laflamme also said NHTSA designated Vermont as a mid-range impaired-driving state for alcohol under the five-year moving-average threshold and that the office has implemented a statewide impaired-driving task force with a quarterly meeting schedule and an action plan to address the issue.
Committee members asked for a follow-up presentation on the office's media tools and resources; Laflamme offered to return with staff and materials.
