Join roadway safety professionals for ATSSA’s Midyear Meeting to help shape policies and initiatives for the roadway safety infrastructure industry for the coming year.

Network with more than 350 industry professionals from across the country who are gathering in Providence, R.I., to further innovation and infrastructure for roadway safety, Aug. 23-26.

The meeting is tailored to national committee members and friends to learn, network and build leadership skills.

“These meetings are critical to the work of our Association,” said ATSSA President & CEO Stacy Tetschner. “We lay the groundwork for many efforts and innovations for advancing roadway safety at our committee and council meetings. We were pleased by last year’s record-breaking attendance of 381 and hope to exceed that this year as we work to develop roadway safety plans that utilize the funding approved in the Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act.”

Every organization wants to avoid worker injuries but ignoring the possibility is an unwise approach.

ATSSA’s Training Department and the Roadway Worker Protection Council present the third of five Worker Safety Webinars on June 7 at 2 p.m. The June webinar covers “safety supports,” which addresses how to assist your team effectively after a workplace incident.

Alex Kelly, CEO of SALT and Company, leads each of the Worker Safety Webinars, all of which are free for members and held from 2-3 p.m. E.T. Prior to starting SALT, Kelly directed Canada’s first Vision Zero Advocate Institute, which is dedicated to supporting municipalities and businesses in the adoption of evidence-based road safety programming.

“Since 2021, ATSSA and its members have expanded their emphasis on roadway worker safety by forming the Roadway Worker Protection Council and taking coordinated steps to be proactive in protecting workers and being prepared in case tragedy strikes,” said ATSSA Vice President of Education and Technical Services Donna Clark. “This Worker Safety Webinar series is one way we are helping our members be prepared in case an incident occurs.”

TAMPA, Florida (Feb. 15, 2022) – Three exhibitors at ATSSA’s 52nd Annual Convention & Traffic Expo received Innovation Awards today in recognition of new products that contribute to the industry’s mission of advancing roadway safety and working Toward Zero Deaths.

The new products from 2021 were evaluated by a panel of judges made up of department of transportation personnel. Judges reviewed 14 items from companies across the U.S. and Canada as part of the New Products Rollout.

The Innovation Award winners were honored today during ATSSA’s Circle of Innovation where videos explaining their products were shown to the roadway safety infrastructure industry. Items were evaluated on the criteria of lifesaving qualities, degree of need, innovation, design and eligibility under the Highway Safety Improvement Program.

The National Roadway Safety Strategy (NRSS) unveiled by the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) on Thursday focuses on moving the U.S. towards zero roadway deaths by taking a safe systems approach that includes six central themes.

The themes laid out are that: deaths and serious injuries are unacceptable; human mistakes are inevitable; humans are vulnerable to injury and death; there is a shared responsibility for these incidents; safety can be and should be proactive; and redundancy is critical. The strategy introduced by Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg also focuses on five safety issues.

“ATSSA applauds Secretary Buttigieg on the release of the first National Roadway Safety Strategy, especially with its call for the enhanced protection of roadway construction workers," ATSSA President & CEO Stacy Tetschner said. "Shining a brighter spotlight on the need to dramatically reduce roadway fatalities is critically necessary.”

ATSSA kicked off its Worker Safety Webinar Series today with a session by Alex Kelly, founder and CEO of SALT + Company.

Calling her presentation “Road Safety 101,” Kelly discussed big picture issues related to the transportation industry and encouraged company owners to veer outside their lane—though not literally—to explore alternate avenues for partnerships.

Today’s session was the first of five Worker Safety Webinars and sponsored by the ATSSA Training Department and the new Roadway Safety Protection Council. The next four webinars will take place in 2022.

The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) released the results of its industry survey on innovative products for work zones.

This spring, Caltrans gathered information from manufacturers and vendors of work zone-related safety products about recent innovations in the products.

Twelve ATSSA member companies responded about work zone safety products they offer and were mentioned in the 42-page report, “Work Zone Safety: Synthesis of Literature and Industry Survey.”

Ideas flowed today as ATSSA’s Roadway Worker Protection Council held its first meeting during the Midyear Meeting in Kansas City, Mo.

Nearly 30 people took part where it was agreed the two primary focus areas are mitigating risk in work zones and creating a support plan to be ready when incidents occur.

Doug Dolinar, who lost an employee to a work zone incident last August, was appointed as council chair  and ATSS Foundation Board Chair Dave Krahulec was appointed as vice chair for today’s meeting. An election of officers will take place when the council meets during the 52^nd Annual Convention & Traffic Expo in Tampa, Fla., in February.

The plan is to hold the Roadway Worker Protection Council meeting the morning of Monday, Feb. 14 to avoid conflicts with other council and committee meetings at Convention. The Convention & Traffic Expo will be held Feb. 11-15.

ATSSA’s 2021 Midyear Meeting kicks off this afternoon in Kansas City, Mo.

More than 300 people have registered for the event that runs through Friday and is being held in hybrid fashion with some attending in person at the Loews Kansas City Hotel and others taking part online.

The week includes the first meeting of the Roadway Worker Protection Council, which takes place Wednesday and evolved from a Roadway Worker Protection Summit held during this year’s Convention and Traffic Expo.

This year’s Midyear Meeting adds a new council focused on roadway worker protection to the lineup.

The addition evolved from the Roadway Worker Protection Summit, which was heavily attended during ATSSA’s 2021 Annual Convention & Traffic Expo held online in February, said ATSSA Vice President of Education and Technical Services Donna Clark.

She said the topic resonates with everyone in the roadway safety industry and, unfortunately, the statistics on injuries and deaths aren’t improving.

The National Work Zone Memorial makes roadway safety personal by inscribing the names of people killed in work zone incidents. Each person left behind loved ones and co-workers who grieve the loss.

Members can help raise awareness of the toll of work zone incidents by hosting the tribute formally known as “The National Work Zone Memorial - Respect and Remembrance: Reflections of Life on the Road.”

The Foundation encourages ATSSA members, ATSSA chapters, state departments of transportation (DOTs) and industry leaders to host the Memorial at events. It is now available in two formats – a traveling Memorial and a virtual Memorial.