2024 Toward Zero Deaths Conference

About the Conference

This conference provides a forum for sharing information on best practices in engineering, enforcement, education, and emergency medical/health services and for identifying new approaches to reducing the number of traffic fatalities and life-changing injuries on Minnesota roads.

The conference will be offering only in-person attendance this year, with 2 general sessions, more than 30 concurrent sessions, and almost 50 expected exhibitors. 

This year's conference highlights include:

• An opening general session featuring Steve Schmidt, who will demystify artificial intelligence and discuss its potential applications in the realm of highway safety.
• A day two general session that will explore how an impaired wrong-way driver changed a college student's life on March 16, 2015. Elias Youngblom, who lost his sight as a result of the crash, and his mother Tracy will share their story.
• The presentation of our annual TZD awards.
• Forty concurrent sessions on topics including the Safe System Approach, distracted driving, impaired driving, child passenger safety, tribal safety efforts, stakeholder engagement, crash responder safety, and more. 

Browse the conference program for more information.

Conference Evaluation

Are you attending this year's conference? Share your feedback in the conference evaluation and help Minnesota TZD plan future events. 

Accommodations

Rooms are available at several St. Cloud area hotels, starting at rates of $107 plus tax per night. Conference attendees are responsible for making their own reservations. View the full list of hotels, rates, and reservation deadlines.

Parking and Shuttles

Conference parking is available in the River's Edge East Parking Ramp (located beneath the convention center), Grand Central Parking Ramp, and the River's Edge West Parking Ramp. Metered parking stalls are available in the Mississippi Parking Lot and in the Convention Center Parking Lot. Learn more about parking rates, locations, and directions.

We also encourage attendees to download St. Cloud's ParkMobile app to easily pay for ramp and lot parking.

Two sponsored shuttle routes will be offered to/from all conference hotels and the Convention Center (except for the two connected properties). Day 1 shuttles will run from 6:30–10 a.m. and 4–8 p.m., and day 2 shuttles will run from 6:20–10 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.–1 p.m.

Credit

CPS CEUs, Continuing Legal Education (CLE) credits, EMS CEUs, POST credits, and Professional Development Hours (PDHs) will be available for conference attendance. See details and access credit forms.

For Conference Speakers and Moderators

Will you be speaking at this year's TZD conference? Check out our resources for speakers and moderators.

Contact

Questions? Please contact Linda Dolan at ldolan@umn.edu.

Conference Planning Committee

View a list of the individuals serving on the 2024 TZD Conference Planning Committee.

Sponsors

The conference is offered by the Minnesota Toward Zero Deaths Program and the Minnesota Departments of Health, Public Safety, and Transportation, with funding from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. It is hosted by the University of Minnesota's Center for Transportation Studies.

Additional sponsorship provided by: