‘One Team, One Vision Toward Zero Deaths’

The South Central Safe Community Partnership will host its annual Traffic Safety Summit from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. today at the Cotillion Ballroom at Nicholls State University.

“We are encouraging the public to come out and explore the hands-on demonstrations,” said Rudynah Capone, safety coordinator for the South Central Planning and Development Commission. “We want to get citizens more involved, and, this year, we are targeting high school and college students. We need to hear their voice and get the youth participation at this event.”

SCSCP, a safety coalition composed of local law enforcement, government, health, education, business, non-profit and community-based agencies from Assumption, Lafourche, St. Charles, St. James, St. John the Baptist and Terrebonne parishes, has been hosting the summit since 2001, and more than 100 people are expected to attend this year’s event.

The educational and interactive conference will feature breakout sessions on impaired driving, seatbelt use, road safety innovations, teen driver safety, distracted driving, bicycle and pedestrian safety and grassroots advocacy. This event is designed for all levels of highway safety agency representatives and law enforcement officers, as well as caregivers, educators and advocacy founders. Many of the events are open to the public.

“This year, we will have a special session on bike and pedestrian safety,” Capone said. “There is a lack of sidewalks in this area, in the state and in this country, and there have been several pedestrian fatalities in this area in the last year.”

Through the summit, which is funded by a grant from the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission, SCSCP hopes to increase awareness on traffic safety issues in the area; look at the latest traffic data and transportation safety practices to make future decisions; and provide an opportunity for law enforcement officers, health and safety practitioners, government leaders, safe community coordinators, transportation professionals and safety advocates to look over and possibly improve safety in and outside of city limits. Another goal of the event is to get more participation from private businesses, educational institutions and youth sectors in campaigns against underage drinking, drunk driving, reckless driving and texting while driving.

Members of the public are invited to attend breakout sessions on youth driving and drinking prevention, presented by Nicholls State University Police Chief Craig Jaccuzzo, and AAA’s Keys2Drive Program and Forming a Youth Traffic Safety Advocacy Group, led by AAA Public Affairs Specialist Don Redman. There will also be outdoor safety exhibitions from the Louisiana State Police Troop C’s Seatbelt Rollover Simulator, Wal-Mart’s Committed to Safety Truck Display, Nicholls’ fatal vision goggle golf cart, Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office bike and motorcycle display and a child passenger safety seat check from noon to 2:30 p.m.

“I tried the fatal vision goggle demo last year, and I couldn’t even find the ignition,” Capone said. “We will also have representatives from the Nicholls ‘Think Before You Drink’ campaign. This has been a successful anti-drinking and driving program, and we hope to duplicate it in area. Representatives from Sudden Impact, a driving program for high school sophomores, will also be there.”

“We want to also engage parents and teachers in the event, and we want the public to know that we do this for their safety,” she added.

“This event is a great chance for people to learn why we do what we do,” said LSP Troop C spokesman Evan Harrell. “Law enforcement agencies can’t do everything by themselves. It takes agencies and the public working together to ensure safety on and off the road.”

Officers and staff from LSP will be at the event to give presentations on new traffic safety laws and vehicle road trip preparation.

“People should come out and bring their kids,” Harrell said. “The fatal vision goggle golf cart helps people understand why impaired drivers should not be behind the wheel, and the Wal-Mart 18-wheeler shows people where blind spots are when traveling near an 18-wheeler.”

Clifford Strider III, a career prosecutor and current gaming division director of the Louisiana Department of Justice, will address law enforcement officers in a breakout session on DUI apprehension, investigation and testifying techniques.

“In the last two years, I have given similar presentations at seven or eight different events,” Strider said. “I talk about the weaknesses I normally see in DUI and traffic fatality investigations, ways around these weaknesses and how to build a better case. I also go over the effective ways to testify in these kinds of cases.”

Strider, who served as an assistant district attorney for 30 years and now heads the state’s regulatory arm of the gaming industry, said he looks forward to speaking to a diverse level of law enforcement officers at the summit.

“It’s refresher for some of the older officers, and it gives some of the younger officers better ideas about how to do their work,” he said. “I look forward to addressing the officers and helping them keep the communities safe.”

The community is invited to participate in the South Central Safe Community Partnership’s annual Traffic Safety Summit. In addition to bicycle and pedestrian safety events, the event includes a number of health and safety practitioners and law enforcement officers. The event begins at 8 a.m. today in Nicholls State’s Cotillion Ballroom.

COURTESY PHOTO