Workshop Recap

The Red Light Running (RLR) Technical Assistance Workshop held April 12-13 at the Albuquerque Convention Center in Albuquerque, NM, was a well-attended, rousing success for all involved. Twenty-nine of the thirty-two RLR grant sites were present at the workshop, as were Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Headquarters staff and representatives from various FHWA region and division sites.

Sunny but breezy skies greeted our site coordinators for the one-and-a-half day event. An opening plenary session kicked off the workshop, with Mila Plosky, FHWA Headquarters, providing an overview of the

Welcome/Plenary Session

national RLR campaign and articulating workshop objectives. Sue Morris, Director of Social Marketing for Global Exchange (GEI)-the contractor retained by FHWA to design and assist the sites in campaign implementation-discussed GEI's capabilities and ways GEI can help the site coordinators. Allison Wright, who was the site coordinator for the pilot campaign in Charleston, SC, gave her account of how a successful campaign can mobilize a community around traffic safety issues.

Nationally recognized training consultant Ernie Albritton of Oklahoma City, OK, led a hilarious ice-breaking activity where participants were able to reunite with old acquaintances and meet some new friends. That's also where we learned site coordinators' nicknames like "Cactus Jack," "Bubbling Betsy" and "Maxie-million," to name a few.

The first evening ended with a networking session enabling participants to mingle and discuss their respective campaigns, while munching on the do-it-yourself burritos and drinking (non-alcoholic!!) margaritas.

The following day consisted of concurrent sessions on a variety of RLR topics. Sessions included: Augmenting Enforcement with Technology, Building Successful Community Partnerships, Effectively Publicizing Your Campaign, Gauging Community Awareness and Attitudes, and Maintaining Momentum and Self-Sufficiency. While the highlights were too many to list here, memorable moments included John Henry (Drive Smart Colorado) sharing his experiences in community coalition building, Dr. James Swinehart's (GEI consultant) valuable overview of campaign survey implementation, and Kitt Albritton's (OK ACOG) passion for developing innovative partnerships.

Following the afternoon sessions, the group reconvened for informal roundtable discussions. These served as opportunities to pick the brains of experts in specific areas of interest or concern. Following an unexpectedly funny group photo session, Michael Trentacoste, the newly appointed FHWA Director of Highway Safety, closed the conference by thanking the participants for their attendance, commitment, and support of this FHWA highway safety outreach effort. Since this workshop was scheduled to dovetail with Lifesavers 14, many RLR coordinators took advantage of the opportunity to attend the nation's largest traffic safety conference while they were in Albuquerque.

Workshop Session

Roundtable Session