Many times those of us who labor in the trenches of highway safety really have no idea of our impact. Our experience and knowledge tell us that there is a serious problem. The events of life reinforce this thought as they unfold on a daily basis, but we are hard-put to tell you who and how our efforts are helping.
However, in the last couple of days, emails have reached us that tell us people are looking at what we are doing. These emails tell us that we are having an impact. More than that people are reaching out to share what they know, and what they have learned. This is truly gratifying.
Further, it allows us to broaden our influence. When you share what you know with us, we in turn share it with others. That is how we hoped our efforts would grow.
A recent email from Joseph Dell in Michigan gave us a heads up on some new changes that have recently been made in that state's "Pull Over" law. Once we were made aware of this, our researchers went to work and identified the changes. They are now posted in our state law section. A similar effort from New Hampshire allowed us to add their law to our section.
Chief Thomas Birch of the Black Canyon Fire District in Arizona came to us with a request for highway death and injury statistics. It seems that Chief Birch was working in concert with his local newspaper to create an article on the dangers of highway safety operations.
Thanks to the efforts of Jack Sullivan, our Training Director, we were able to forward a complete set of our available data. We are pleased to be able to provide this type of help to you who are out there working on the dangerous front lines of the highways in our country.
Another reader asked us where they could find information on fire police operations. Thanks to the efforts of our team, we were able to provide a number of sites for that person to visit. Here is a short list that we have available:
- Somerset & Cambria Counties Fire Police Association
- Fire Police In Pennsylvania
- Montgomery County, PA Volunteer Fire Police Association
- Connecticut Fire Police Association, Inc.
Our task is to assist in reducing the number of deaths and injuries on the highways. Many of us are facing the same problems every day. I am sure that there are unique solutions being created all the time. We need to hear from you. While we are becoming the repository of matters involving highway safety, our efforts are limited by the number of people on our team. We cannot be everywhere and we cannot know what is happening in every state or province in North America. There are developments occurring all over the globe. We need to hear about what you are doing so that our efforts can grow. As John Heywood wrote back in the 1500's, "...Many hands make work light." He goes on to tell us that, "...the more the merrier."
Those thoughts typify what the Emergency Response Institute and Respondersafety.com are all about. We are a group of people who have come together to work on a serious issue that is of importance to us all.
We know we are doing the right thing when we get comments like the following from Joe Dell out in Michigan: "This site has been invaluable to our dept in putting together a highway safety class Nice Job and great info......"
Please join with us on our journey towards a safer future.