As millions gather around their televisions to watch the women’s NCAA college basketball championship on April 5 followed by men’s championship game on April 6 – the culmination of weeks of March Madness – we on the traffic safety advocacy team are gearing up for our own “tournament.”
April is typically the busiest month of our traffic safety education year. As the winter driving season winds down – minus the occasional surprise Minnesota spring blizzard – more drivers are on the roads, roadside construction season begins and the risks go up. But this season we’ve got a full-court communication and education press ready to take on the challenge.
In case you haven’t heard, we’ve just launched our new comprehensive campaign for Distracted Driving Awareness Month (April 1-30). “Someone is Waiting for You” strives to reach drivers’ emotionally by reminding them that their distracted driving and excess speed behaviors can result in a lifetime of devastation for loved ones, friends and colleagues. We’re especially excited about the brief visual messages that will appear this month on more than 400 retail location video screens to capture drivers’ attention mid-trip. Our tool kit also includes newsletter articles and email messages, a 5-Minutes for Safety talk outline, social media posts and visuals to support your own outreach, and much more!
April also features:
- National Enforcement Mobilization: “Put the Phone Away or Pay”(April 6–13)
- Traffic Safety Day at Mall of America(April 11, 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.): Huntington Bank Rotunda, hosted by Minnesota Toward Zero Deaths
- National Work Zone Awareness Week(April 20–24): Dedicated to promoting safe driving around and through work zones.
Check out DrivesSafeMN.org and April’s DriveSafeMN newsletter for more information and educational resources for each of these events.
By the way, when I filled out my traffic safety advocacy bracket for April, I picked all of you as champions! Keep making those winning shots.
Yours in traffic safety
Lisa Kons
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