April 2023
Issue 107
Workshop Calendar

Click here to view training opportunities available. We will continue to update the schedule with dates and locations, so check in with us regularly. If you are interested in hosting a class, please email the T2 Center at [email protected].
Our mission is to foster a safe, efficient, environmentally sound transportation system by improving skills and knowledge of local transportation providers through training, technical assistance, and technology transfer.
In This Issue:
  • Town Crier: East Lyme - 2022 CIRMA Risk Management Award Recipient
  • TLP Cohort #9 - Now Accepting Applications
  • Safety Matters: April is National Distracted Driving Awareness Month
  • Innovation Station: New Creative Solutions Award Guide - Don't Miss It!
  • Meet T2 Instructor David Orr
  • Safe Transportation for Every Pedestrian (STEP) - Two CT Safety Academy Class Dates in June
  • New Tech Brief - Email Etiquette
  • CT T2 2023 Photo Contest
East Lyme 2022 - CIRMA Risk Management Award Recipient
The Connecticut Interlocal Risk Management Agency (CIRMA) Excellence in Risk Management Award was awarded to the Town of East Lyme for new and innovative management initiatives.
Public entities face unique risks that often require unique solutions. With a laser focus on their need to identify and address specific OSHA compliance standards among staff, the Town of East Lyme’s Department of Public Works made an important strategic decision to reevaluate, reimagine, and fortify its approach to risk management. This led to creating an innovative initiative that allowed the department to usher in a new era of maintaining the highest levels of OSHA compliance standards. The department implemented Safe-T-First, a new strategic initiative that would systematically address the department’s risk management needs. This multi-dimensional program helped to remediate areas of compliance concern while assessing and strengthening the Town of East Lyme’s overall operational resilience.

Safe-T-First helps orient employees not only to the functional details of employment, such as appropriate safety procedures, but also to the safety culture of both the department and the entity as a whole. The success of the initiative led to a newly developed and fully integrated safety manual resource, enhanced training, and introduced a variety of additional resources to empower employees to commit to improving workplace safety. The implementation of a training coordinator position, fulfilled by a current field employee, helped to ensure that staff were involved in the process. This also allowed for an opportunity to establish a peer mentor program that ensured each new employee was trained to the highest level possible to allow for a uniform safety culture through the department.
TLP Cohort #9 - Now Accepting Applications
Do you know anyone who would be a good candidate for the Transportation Leadership Program? Applications are being accepted for Cohort #9 until June 1, 2023.

For the program application and overview, click here.

Don't hesitate to contact Donna Shea if you have any questions or would like to discuss potential candidates.

"I start with the premise that the function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers."
- Ralph Nader
April is National Distracted Driving Awareness Month
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 3,522 people lost their lives to distracted driving in 2021. Here in Connecticut in 2022 there were 5,300 distracted driving crashes resulting in eight fatalities and sixty-four serious injuries. Although distracted driving can include activities such as adjusting the radio or GPS, eating or drinking; the most prevalent activity is cell phone use, whether it's talking, texting or using social media. Forty-eight states, including Connecticut, have laws prohibiting hand-held cell phone use yet it continues.
Since 2010, April has been National Distracted Driving Awareness Month. Connecticut has been measuring rates of distracted driving since 2015 and August 2021 saw the highest rate of drivers either texting or talking on a hand-held cell phone since the first round of observations in March 2015. Through social media messaging, commercials showing the dangers of distracted driving, and campaigns such as “U Drive. U Text. U Pay.”, CT DOT is making a concerted effort to reduce distracted driving crashes in the state.

To continue reading, click here.
For more information and assistance with local road safety in your community, contact Melissa Evans, Safety Circuit Rider, at [email protected].
New Creative Solutions Award Guide - Don't Miss It!
Over the years, the T2 Center team has collected innovative solutions to your day-to-day challenges, through our Creative Solutions Award Program.

In addition to this being a way to recognize and reward your creativity, it is also intended to be a resource for you to learn from each other.

We are excited to launch our newly updated guide and hope you will take the time to go through the innovative solutions from our CT cities/towns. You may find the solution to a challenge you have in your agency!
Don’t forget to submit your innovations for our 2023 award program. Click here to submit your creative solution today! If you have something that has really helped your crew but you are not sure if it meets criteria for the program, reach out to Mary McCarthy to share your idea and see if it is a fit.
Meet T2 Instructor David Orr
David P. Orr, P.E. is the Senior Engineer and Director of the Cornell Local Roads Program. Formerly the Deputy Highway Superintendent for Yates County, NY; where he did everything from picking up dead deer to dealing with the legislature, David has over 30 years of road-related experience and has been teaching for the CT T2 Center for more than 20 years. David teaches the Road Master Program's Principles of Drainage course for the T2 Center. In his free time, David likes to take long walks, play hockey, read books, and play handbells in church along with his wife, Kathy.
Safe Transportation for Every Pedestrian (STEP) - Two CT Safety Academy Class Dates in June
Given the 34-year high number of pedestrian fatalities in CT last year, the importance for our upcoming Safe Transportation for Every Pedestrian (STEP) training cannot be overstated. Each of us has a vital role in keeping pedestrians safe on our roadways and this course will get you one STEP closer!

Upon completion of the course, participants will:

  • Understand and be able to explain the magnitude of the pedestrian safety problem, nationwide and specifically in Connecticut.
  • Understand how STEP and the Spectacular Seven countermeasures can help improve pedestrian safety in your community.
  • Select appropriate pedestrian safety improvement treatments using the table in the Guide for Improving Pedestrian Safety at Uncontrolled Crossing Locations.

To register for one of the two STEP classes being offered in June, please visit the T2 Center's online schedule, here.
New Tech Brief - Email Etiquette
Do you cringe when you open your inbox? Is using email for work communications new to you? Do you sometimes feel that people don’t understand your messages or fail to respond to what you asked for in the email? Get helpful tips on proper email etiquette, organizing email for efficiency and avoiding common pitfalls with the T2 Center's new Tech Brief - Email Etiquette!
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Along with our Facebook page, the T2 Center now has an Instagram page! Click on the icons below to like the T2 Center on Facebook and follow the T2 Center on Instagram!
Visit T2Center.uconn.edu for more information and resources.
If you have any ideas or suggestions for future Connecticut Crossroads topics, please feel free to email the designer Regina Hackett at [email protected]