AnnuAl RepoRt - University of Alabama at Birmingham

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Noteworthy activities from the past year that support national transportation priorities Specific Accomplishments Director’s Note : When preparing the UAB UTC’s Annual Report, the Specific Accomplishments Section is always the most challenging. As we formulate our list of items for inclusion and categorize them as Research, Education, Technology Transfer or Specific Accomplishment, we tend to put many of the year’s undertakings in the Specific Accomplishments Section. We are proud of the activities of the UAB UTC and strive for all our actions to strongly support state and national transportation goals. However, we realize that not everything we do can go in the Specific Accomplishment Section. With that in mind, we would like to begin this section with a disclaimer, of sorts. The items included herein are those of which we are most proud or are otherwise close to our hearts. We hope that you, the reader, will not neglect the other sections of our Annual Report, as you will find noteworthy accomplishments throughout the document. Alabama Distracted Driving Summit Hosted by UAB UTC and UTCA On Dec. 3, 2009, the UAB University Transportation Center (www.uab.edu/utc) joined forces with the University Transportation Center for Alabama (http://utca.eng.ua.edu) to sponsor the Alabama Distracted Driving Summit. This first (and to our knowledge still the only) statewide summit on distracted driving was conducted a mere 61 days after Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood’s Washington, D.C., summit. The purpose of this one-day event was: (1) to bring together researchers, educators, public policy and decision makers, and private citizens from across our state to describe the scope and nature of the distracted driving problem; (2) to identify meaningful ways to increase public awareness of the safety issues associated with distracted driving; and (3) to identify and review legislative and regulatory approaches/options for addressing distracted driving in Alabama. Modeled after the US Secretary of Transportation’s National Distracted Driving Summit, the Alabama’s summit brought together more than 300 transportation leaders, elected officials, safety advocates, law enforcement representatives and private sector representatives, as well as transportation and public health scientists to discuss how to reduce motor-vehicle crashes resulting from distracted driving through legislation, enforcement, public awareness and education. The Alabama Summit was especially significant due to the presence of Secretary LaHood, who in his keynote address praised both Alabama UTCs for their initiative and leadership in hosting the event: “The University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Summit – the first of its kind outside Washington – helps continue the national conversation on distracted driving and will put more good ideas on the table to prevent needless deaths. I hope other states will follow its lead.” Traffic safety experts from around the state and nation made concise presentations and participated in interactive audience-panel discussions throughout the day-long meeting. Key topics describing the extent and impact of distracted driving, current research, regulations and best practices were presented and discussed. Additional information about the panelists and their topics appears elsewhere in this newsletter. We are gratified and honored that the UAB UTC/UTCAsponsored Alabama Distracted Driving Summit served to re-energize the somewhat scattered and poorly organized statewide anti-distracted-driving activities that were previously underway in various places throughout Alabama. Because of the UAB UTC sponsored Summit, many more people and private-sector entities, as well as other government agencies, have become better informed about the distracted driving problem and involved in efforts to reduce if not eliminate this problem. Moreover, there is no question the Summit measurably increased awareness of the distracted driving efforts outlined by Alabama’s Strategic Highway Safety Plan and executed by (L to R) Dr. Melvin Davis, Dr. Rich Hanowski, Dr. John Lee 42 uab utc annual report 2009-2010
“The University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Summit – the first of its kind outside Washington – helps continue the national conversation on distracted driving and will put more good ideas on the table to prevent needless deaths. I hope other states will follow its lead.“ – Ray LaHood Mr. Terry Henderson, ADECA Mr. Terry Henderson, the distracted driving point man for the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA). Because of Mr. Henderson’s important role, he was a key Alabama Summit panelist. Also, the Strategic Highway Safety Plan outlines a legislative approach for reducing distracted driving that is chaired by Rep. David Grimes of Montgomery. Both Alabama UTCs are interested only in advancing the common cause of eliminating distracted driving in Alabama. Consistent with the UAB UTC’s intentions are activities that are two-fold in intent: First, to be fully supportive of efforts currently underway or in place; and secondly, to offer ourselves as a unifier, perhaps the primary unifier of the many and varied contributors and prospective contributors to the anti-distracted-driving effort. Because UTCs are forbidden, by law, to lobby on behalf of any specific piece of legislation, we have assumed a prominent (and allowable) role devoted to increasing awareness about the hazards and risks of distracted driving among policy and decision makers, as well as among the general public. For example, because the Alabama Distracted Driving Summit was so poorly attended by the overwhelming majority of the Alabama Legislature (only three members were present, in spite of all members having received invitations), we provided each member of the Alabama Legislature with individual DVD copies of all presentations made and all panel discussions occurring during the recent Alabama Distracted Driving Summit. Also, we have embedded the recorded version of the entire Alabama Distracted Driving Summit on the UAB UTC Web site (www.uab.edu/utc). images: A.) More than 300 transportation leaders, elected officials, safety advocates, law enforcement officers and private sector representatives gathered for the Alabama Distracted Driving Summit B.) Ms. Dee Fine and Alabama State Senator Rodger Smitherman C.) (L to R) Senator Jabo Waggoner, Mr. Terry Henderson, Col. J. Christopher Murphy, Dr. Bill King D.) (L to R) Sec. Ray LaHood, Jeff Foster, Dr. Robert Rich, and UAB President Dr. Carol Garrison A.) B.) C.) D.) Specific Accomplishments 43
Page 1 and 2: Annual Report Traffic Safety & Inju
Page 3 and 4: Table of Contents Director’s Note
Page 5 and 6: ecause of two exceptional transport
Page 7 and 8: From 2004 to 2008, seat belts saved
Page 9 and 10: Center Staff university of alabama
Page 11 and 12: Office of the Director / Principal
Page 13 and 14: The Advisory Board The UAB UTC’s
Page 15 and 16: First Student Earns Certificate in
Page 17 and 18: In the United States, motor vehicle
Page 19 and 20: “Together, the UAB UTC and the TR
Page 21 and 22: UAB UTC’s First Minority Enrichme
Page 23 and 24: In 2008 there were an estimated 10,
Page 25 and 26: D2 - Project 1: Capacity Building,
Page 27 and 28: Urban Sprawl Associated with Increa
Page 29 and 30: Traffic Congestion Increases EMS Re
Page 31 and 32: First Wave of UAB UTC Distracted Dr
Page 33 and 34: Products, Technologies, and Researc
Page 35 and 36: Secretary Ray LaHood, United States
Page 37 and 38: Presentations Bose D, Crandall J, T
Page 39 and 40: TRIP ® Lab Students Present Resear
Page 41 and 42: effort to address and resolve press
Page 43: UAB UTC Provides Distracted Driving
Page 47 and 48: UTC Leadership and Special Guests 1
Page 49 and 50: PANEL 2: Public Awareness and Educa
Page 51 and 52: UAB UTC Featured in RITA Spotlight
Page 53 and 54: UAB UTC Welcomes New UTC Scientist
Page 55 and 56: UAB UTC Exploring Partnership with
Page 57 and 58: Workforce Development in Real Time:
Page 59 and 60: funding, sources & expenditures 200

AnnuAl RepoRt - University of Alabama at Birmingham

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?