2023 Northeast Minnesota Toward Zero Deaths Workshop
Wednesday, May 31, 2023
3901 East Superior Street
Duluth, MN
About the Workshop
This annual workshop helps facilitate Minnesota TZD's goal of creating a collaborative, comprehensive, and regional approach to reducing traffic deaths and severe injuries.
Workshop Presentations
Welcome to the 20th Anniversary of TZD!
Speaker: Duane Hill, District Engineer, MnDOT District 1, and Northeast Minnesota TZD Regional Co-chair
Crash Data Presentation: What’s the Data Telling Us?
Speaker: Ken E. Johnson, PE, Assistant State Traffic Engineer, MnDOT Office of Traffic Engineering
Recent trends in traffic fatalities and serious injuries statewide are concerning. Are there certain crash types that have contributed to this rise? Were the past years a brief spike or are we seeing a new trajectory? This session reviewed regional crash trends with an eye towards the Strategic Highway Safety Plan and potential opportunities for future strategies.
Cannabis DWIs...They’re Not So Simple
Speaker: Sgt. Tyler Milless, DRE Coordinator, Minnesota State Patrol
With the constant rise in cannabis use in Minnesota and the potential for legalization, it is important to know how to detect cannabis-induced impairment. This session gave attendees an overview of the cannabis plant and explored what it does to the human body. Attendees learn specific things to look for when detecting someone who is impaired by cannabis.
Intersection Safety Solutions: Roundabouts and RCIs
Speaker: Jim Miles, District Traffic Engineer, MnDOT District 1
This session covered the construction projects in northeast Minnesota that are saving lives as we continue our efforts into the Safe System approach.
Focusing on What Matters
Speaker: Amber Peterson, Managing Partner, Peterson & Perme Associates
Quite often, people feel overly impacted by their environment and helpless to change what’s going on in their own mind. Yet, our mindset (attitude and beliefs) is greatly impacted by what we choose to focus on. Who do we surround ourselves with? What is important that we should focus our energy? What boundaries should we hold around our values? This session guided participants to examine what they are focusing on in their lives, decide if it’s what they truly want, and empower them to make the changes they see they need to live a more fulfilled and satisfied life.
Regional TZD Safe Roads Coalition Updates
Speakers: Kaitlin Schaumburg, Essentia Health Patient Education, TZD Safe Roads Coalition Co-coordinator; Amanda Schafter, St. Lukes Hospital Patient Education, TZD Safe Roads Co-coordinator; and Allison Nicolson, Essentia Health, Injury Prevention Coordinator - Trauma
Workshop Goals
- Encourage traffic safety as a priority for policymakers
- Provide information on traffic safety issues in Northeast Minnesota
- Provide a method to bring traffic safety programs into your community
- Spread successes of the Northeast Minnesota Toward Zero Deaths program
- Network with other traffic safety advocates
Workshop Sponsors
- Northeast Minnesota Toward Zero Deaths Program
- Minnesota Department of Public Safety
- Minnesota Department of Transportation, Office of Traffic Engineering and District 1
- Minnesota Department of Health
- Minnesota State Patrol
More Information
With questions, contact Kristine Hernandez, Minnesota State TZD Program Coordinator, 507-273-0677 or kristine.hernandez@state.mn.us.