Our mission: To create a culture for which traffic fatalities and serious injuries are no longer acceptable through the integrated application of education, engineering, enforcement, and emergency medical and trauma services. These efforts will be driven by data, best practices, and research.
Toward Zero Deaths (TZD) is a Minnesota partnership led by the Department of Public Safety, the Department of Transportation, and the Department of Health, in cooperation with the Minnesota State Patrol, the Federal Highway Administration, Minnesota county engineers, and the Center for Transportation Studies at the University of Minnesota.
There were 421 traffic deaths on Minnesota roads in 2009, the lowest on record since 1944 and an 8 percent drop from 455 deaths in 2008. This and other statistics are reported in Minnesota Motor Vehicle Crash Facts 2009, the Minnesota Department of Public Safety’s annual detailed summary of traffic crashes. The report is now online at the Minnesota Office of Traffic Safety Web site under “Crash Data and Reports.”
The Minnesota Safe Ride Program Report and a condensed companion piece, A Safer Way Home: the Minnesota Safe Ride Guide, are new publications that offer help for communities wanting to start an alternative transportation program to get impaired drivers home safely.
Mark your calendar for the Minnesota Toward Zero Deaths (TZD) annual conference, to be held October 25 and 26, 2010, at the Crowne Plaza Riverfront Hotel in St. Paul, Minnesota.
TZD hosted an open conversation about the challenges and opportunities encountered by law enforcement when dealing with distracted drivers.