Champions of Traffic Safety in Woodbury

It’s about more than handing out traffic tickets.

For its efforts to ensure traffic safety, the Woodbury Police Department on Thursday received a first-place award from the Minnesota Department of Public Safety under its Toward Zero Deaths program.

The department earned the award through its ongoing efforts in enforcement, education, engineering and emergency management, said Woodbury traffic officer Scott Melander, who was joined by fellow officers at the Prom Center in Oakdale for the award presentation.

The city created a traffic unit at the outset of 2009, Melander said, and that played a role in the city receiving the Toward Zero Deaths (TZD) Challenge Award.

While the enforcement part of the TZD initiative is clear, Melander said he saw 2,000 students in district schools last year as part out education and outreach programs. The city also has officers involved in child passenger safety classes and holds bike- and pedestrian-safety courses.

About 100 officers and public safety personnel from across the state were at the Prom Center for the event, where Secretary of State Mark Richie spoke about losing his daughter to a drunk driver. He lauded the TZD program and the work of the officers in attendance.

“Lives don’t have to be shattered,” he said, adding later, “We’re not going to accept that this is just God’s way.”

The TZD initiative started in 2004 and was aimed at getting law enforcement officers, officials from the Public Safety Department, state Health Department and Minnesota Department of Transportation to collaborate better on addressing traffic deaths, said Cheri Marti, director of the state Public Safety Department’s Office of Traffic Safety.

A decade ago, there were about 650 deaths on Minnesota roads, Marti said. That number fell to an unofficial total of 414 in 2009, she said. (The TZD goal was 400.)

The TZD program has annual “mobilization” efforts, Marti said, which include additional enforcement for seatbelt violations, drunk driving and speeding, depending on the season. Speed enforcement is stepped up during summer months while officers target drunk drivers more during holidays, she said.

Another piece of the puzzle is better communication between emergency responders and hospitals—EMTs are better aware of which hospitals someone should go to in the event of a severe crash—and pushing for lawmakers to enact bills that create a safer environment on the roads, such as the .08 blood-alcohol law and mandatory seat belt law, Marti said.

Back in Woodbury, Melander said the biggest issue for traffic is people simply driving too fast during adverse weather.

“That’s how people end up in ditches and in car crashes,” he said.

For more information about TZD, click here.