Legislation aims to teach new drivers how to navigate work zones

This week’s edition of the Talking Michigan Transportation highlights proposed legislation to include driving through work zones as a focus of driver’s training curriculums.

House Bill 5767 would amend the Driver Education Provider and Instructor Act to provide, beginning Jan. 1, 2027, that all participants in a driver education course must complete a work zone safety education course, developed in conjunction with the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) and approved by the Department of State (DOS).

First, Brian Sarkella, chapter president for the American Traffic Safety Services Association (ATSSA), talks about his advocacy for the legislation and testimony he provided to a Michigan House committee on Tuesday, May 12.

Later, Tom Robins of Work Zone Safe talks about his work to adopt legislation in work zone driver’s training in Oklahoma and how it has informed efforts in other states.

Transcript

Welcome And Work Zone Goal

SPEAKER_04 0:07

Hello, welcome to the Talking Michigan Transportation Podcast. I'm Jeff Cranson.

Why Training Misses Work Zones

Jeff Cranson 0:15

Today I'm taking on some newly introduced legislation that focuses on driver's training. Specifically, the objective is to expand the driver's training program in Michigan to teach young drivers, new drivers, how to drive safely through work zones. The idea, obviously, is to create safer drivers to protect themselves and the workers, something we've talked about a lot on this podcast. First, I spoke with Brian Zerkela, who is the Michigan chapter president for the American Traffic Safety Services Association known as ATSA. He's also a consultant with Roe here in Michigan. He had some compelling testimony on the bill earlier this week. Later I spoke with Tom Robbins, who is in Oklahoma and has been instrumental in passing legislation there that deals with this and has helped out with similar curriculum in other states through his work with Work Zone Safe. He became interested in this when he worked for an energy agency for the state of Oklahoma a few years back and realized that uh this is just as important to utility workers as it is to road workers and many others. He had some interesting things to say about what was involved in adopting the legislation there and what they do. I hope you enjoy the conversations. So, as mentioned, I'm back with Brian Sarkela, who is the chapter president for ATSA Michigan. Uh, he's also with Roe, a consulting firm here in Michigan that does a lot of work on roads at the state and local level. Uh, Brian, I was quite moved by your compelling testimony Tuesday in committee about this legislation. It's obviously very personal to you. Um talk first about what motivated you to get behind this advocacy and um you know what your fervent hopes are for it.

SPEAKER_06 2:23

Yeah, thank you so much, Jeff. Um we've noticed a lot of unfortunate um trends in the in the industry recently, especially in Michigan, where we've had um continued crashes and ultimately fatalities for road users and too many workers. Um, and we want to make sure that we're definitely pushing pushing the message forward um to make sure that we get more education in our work zones for any new driver that enters our roadways here in Michigan. And we also wanted to extend it to um the trucking industry as well and make sure anyone seeking an operator's license gets that work zone education as well.

Jeff Cranson 3:00

I'm I'm sure I was surprised, I guess, to hear that this wasn't already uh a focus of the curriculum in Michigan. Um there's been so much advocacy for work zone safety. Um, as you know, we're still trying to get in place a system under a law passed a couple of years ago to put safety cameras in work zones so uh people will know uh how fast they're going and they'll they'll they'll be sighted when they speed in work zones. And that I that's not a revenue generating proposal by any means. It's it's strictly uh another means of deterrent. But I guess uh when you uh took on your role as chapter president for this and really got deeply into this and saw that some other states had already taken a lead, were you surprised that that this wasn't already part of our curriculum?

SPEAKER_06 3:49

Yes, very surprised. There there is some required uh education, but it's extremely minimal. Um, it's just a couple of areas that get hit on. And in talking with some folks recently that have teenage drivers that have gone through education here in Michigan, it might be a couple of minutes at most. Um, and that's why we wanted to make sure that we set a minimum requirement of 30 minutes, and that's for both the new drivers and for the commercial license. And one of the reasons we wanted to hit all new drivers is because not everybody gets their driver's license necessarily as a teenager. Several other states have set this up for teen drivers, but we wanted to make sure that anyone that gets a new license here in Michigan uh is provided that works on education as part of the program.

Jeff Cranson 4:33

Yeah, I mean, you never know when somebody moves here from another state. Uh, they might uh at some point have to renew their license and get a Michigan license. And so uh, or not to mention just some people wait longer these days to get licenses than they used to. Not every kid, you know, goes right out at 16. So I think it's it's a a good point that you're making that this isn't just about the new drivers coming out of the drivers training programs. Um it sounds to me like from the testimony and what I read about these bills, the 30 minutes would probably be mostly classroom. There isn't a specific requirement for driving through the work zones while they're in that training or in that class.

SPEAKER_06 5:14

Correct. The initial step we wanted to take was to make sure there was education in the classroom for it. And then ultimately we would like to have requirements for the field testing as well to make sure that the instructors take drivers through work zones so they can educate them as they go through there as well. But our initial first step, we wanted to make sure that we provided the education in the classroom.

Jeff Cranson 5:35

It seems like something that could be simulated in the classroom, really.

SPEAKER_06 5:39

Yes, and there are some things that we've seen nationally that there's there's definitely some options for simulation. And I'm sure we've all seen the you know, drunk goggles and different things like that. There's definitely ways to provide simulated education in the classroom that just needs the right people to make sure the necessary steps are taken to get the right level of education to the new drivers.

Jeff Cranson 6:01

Is this the first time you've gotten involved at the legislative level with something at, you know, really at the ground level that you're advocating for and testifying for?

SPEAKER_06 6:11

Yes. So we have had um a few advocacy days as part of our Atts of Michigan chapter. Uh, this was our fourth this year, and really we gained um some good traction last year with Rep Alexander's office on this work zone education for new drivers. And it does take time. Uh it's taken us, you know, several months to get through the process and to get a bill introduced. But yes, this is my my first time as uh going through this process legislatively.

Jeff Cranson 6:36

Yeah, we should mention that this is sponsored by Representative Gregory Alexander. So I'm I'm I'm glad you mentioned that. So talk about your experience with this, uh dealing with a lawmaker and then testifying before committee, uh, you know, uh hearing some questions and uh you know having to answer those questions. I mean, how did how did you feel like it all went?

SPEAKER_06 6:55

Initially, there's a natural um natural nervousness to it. Um, but thankful to ATSA and their staff to help me prep and prepare for this was very, very good. And obviously getting through my my testimony, you know, practicing a little bit. But realizing at the end of the day that these are fellow human beings um sitting, you know, on the committee that we were speaking to, and all and many of them, you know, have children or will have children that are drivers. So really just letting them know that we are experts in our respective areas. For us, it's the roadway safety industry and providing the information and the facts and statistics that support why this is so important. So it helps understand that it's just another fellow human being across the table that we were speaking to and making sure we hit home on the importance of this.

What Actually Changes Driver Behavior

Jeff Cranson 7:45

Yeah, this is where I should remind folks that uh MDOT doesn't have any enforcement powers here, um, would not be the agency uh in charge of this. This would be the Secretary of State's office that's in charge of the curriculum for drivers training programs. But MDOT would certainly have a role in working um once this legislation becomes law, if it does, on what might be in that curriculum and you know, what we need to think about in terms of work zones, which is obviously a big deal to the department and everybody that works uh at the local level too, in in roadway projects where people are speeding by. Could you talk about your experience with this and what you think resonates with people that you talk to? Because you know, there's been so many campaigns and people have tried so many different things. I think it was North Carolina that did a pretty creative video a few years ago where they actually simulated people working in an office sitting at their desks with you know cars driving by at 70 miles an hour to try to make the point that this is their office, this is where these people work, and what that's like. What when you talk to you know your colleagues and family and friends about this, um, what do you think you know gets people's attention?

SPEAKER_06 8:59

Um, I think the the main thing is as you reference is the speeds. You know, most people do not know what it's like to be working on a roadway with someone that's traveling by it, 60, 70, 80, even 90 miles an hour, where our workers and our field inspection staff and surveyors are truly next to live traffic. Uh, I know that's one area that a few people I've talked with, you know, they might have pulled over to change a tire on the side of the road. And just that experience alone really hits home. So getting people to understand what it's like to be working next to live traffic, I think that North Carolina um video was very, very much hit home in that regard. So I think once people realize what it's like to be next to um live traffic and be so exposed while we're trying to do our jobs every day is one of the biggest pieces. And then ultimately the impact it has when there's a crash or a fatality on the roadway where lives are unfortunately and sadly lost because of decisions that folks have made in work zones.

Jeff Cranson 9:58

Have you ever been a passenger in a vehicle with somebody? Um, obviously not a colleague because they would be as cognizant of this as you are, but but somebody else that approached a work zone and you felt the need to say, hey, you really ought to slow down.

SPEAKER_06 10:12

Absolutely. I primarily drive when we're out and about, but when I'm a passenger vehicle, I always, always encourage um and almost hound the uh the driver to make sure that they slow down in work zones.

unknown 10:23

Yeah.

Jeff Cranson 10:23

How do you deal with uh, and you know, we've all had this experience, those of us that are uh that are highly sensitive to it, you're going through the work zone at the proper speed and you've got somebody right on your bumper and other cars backed up behind them who uh just frankly aren't as concerned about it. And for whatever reason, maybe they're ignorant of the law or ignorant of the possibilities that it's not just uh these workers that are in danger, it's also them as a driver. So, how do you deal with that?

A Tragic I-96 Work Zone Crash

SPEAKER_06 10:52

It becomes easier and easier to deal with because we know that we're making an effective change by driving the speed that we're supposed to be traveling at. Yes, it causes backups. People might honk and drive by and provide you with, you know, uh other ways that they're unhappy with you, but at the end of the day, we're making an effective difference. And obviously, we don't want to be a hindrance while we're driving through work zones, but driving speeds that are appropriate for the conditions is the biggest change that we want to try to make there.

Jeff Cranson 11:18

So I think the the compelling testimony that really, and I noticed that the legislators uh across the panel were, you know, were riveted when you talked about why this is so personal for you. This involved a crash last summer and in a work zone that I drive often on I-96 between Grand Rapids and Lansing, uh, former MDOT employee who was then working for your company. Talk a little bit about that and how that motivated your testimony.

SPEAKER_06 11:46

Yes, uh Matt Balgowan was a wonderful person, a great colleague, uh, someone I looked up to uh almost immediately once he started working for Roe. Um I only had a chance to work with him for about three years, but I knew many, many people that were affected by him. And it was a very tragic loss for the industry, for our company, for his family, you know, leaving behind a wife, a son, um, daughter-in-law, and three daughters is is very tough. And I've had a lot of conversations with Danielle, Matt's wife over the last, you know, nine months or so here. Matt was uh crashed into a 996 Naronia in in July of last year by a commercial vehicle that was estimated traveling 60 miles per hour, and the vehicle did not slow down. Um, so we can all understand what it what that what the effects of that are. Um, but losing someone and getting that phone call, it it still resonates today. And I know I was you know a bit emotional yesterday testifying. And even when I spoke about Matt at our National Works on Awareness Week event a couple of weeks ago, it still hits home. The grief is still there to lose someone that I looked up to and lose somebody that you know a lot of people in the transportation world knew and respected uh is a huge loss to our industry and to his family as well.

Jeff Cranson 12:59

I think it's just it's hard for us to even imagine with all that's done now with technology and and plain old signs to alert people miles ahead of time that they're coming into a work zone and that there could be backups. And yet people, uh, in this case, you know, a specific driver, for whatever reason, and I don't know if we even know the reason for sure, because I think there so much of the evidence that the police would have used was was burned up. Uh, how they couldn't have known that they were coming up on a queue where people might be backed up, and indeed were. It's just uh it's astounding to me.

SPEAKER_06 13:37

Yeah, I agree. And and that's one of the reasons why we want to make sure that we provide this education because, you know, one for new drivers, all teens and all new drivers should be educated in work zones. It's critical to reducing the crashes and ultimate fatalities that do occur on our roadways, but also two commercial vehicles. You know, those are large, heavy vehicles and they take a long time to stop. So when they're not slowing down appropriately, um, they can be very destructive. And unfortunately, that's what happened in that situation.

Jeff Cranson 14:06

Yeah, that's a really good point. I I think that as part of this curriculum, what I would encourage anybody who does at any of these these driver training schools, which are pretty much all private these days, is to have uh a veteran worker come in and talk to the students about what life is like out there, you know. I mean, an actual hard hat that has experienced this. I think that that could really get people's attention.

SPEAKER_06 14:30

Absolutely. And and also hearing um testimony from the families that have lost a member because of a because of a work zone crash, an incident. Um, you know, that that's the way to really hit home to people. Unfortunately, it takes fatalities for people to realize the the repercussions of their decisions.

Jeff Cranson 14:47

Yeah, that is the sad reality. Well, Brian, thank you for taking time to talk about this and uh and for your advocacy and and good luck with the legislation as it as it moves forward. I appreciate you taking time here.

SPEAKER_06 14:58

Yeah, thank you so much, Jeff. I really appreciate the opportunity and we'll keep our fingers crossed. This gets voted out of committee and out of the House floor here in no time.

Hands Free Law Quick Reminder

Jeff Cranson 15:05

So again, I'll be back in just a minute with Tom Robbins from Oklahoma to talk more about this topic.

MDOT Message 15:12

In Michigan, safety comes first on the roads. To combat distracted driving, Michigan passed the hands-free law. The law makes holding or manually using a cell phone or other mobile electronic device while operating a vehicle a primary offense. This means an officer can stop and ticket you for violating the law. This can include, but not limited to, sending or receiving a call, sending, receiving, or reading a text or email, accessing, reading, or posting to social media sites, or entering locations into the phone GPS. With this law in place, drivers are encouraged to stay focused, keeping their hands on the wheel and their attention on the road. Drive smart, drive safe, drive hands-free. Michigan's hands-free law, making the road safer for everyone.

Oklahoma’s Coalition For Roadway Safety

Jeff Cranson 16:01

So, as promised, our second segment today is with Tom Robbins. Tom, talk a little bit about your background first and uh how this came to be a priority for you.

SPEAKER_07 16:11

I actually served as a deputy secretary of energy for the previous governor. Uh, when it comes to energy development in the state, what you need to know is that thousands of trucks are going to show up in rural uh places with one-stop lights, and quickly those communities can get overrun. And unfortunately, some people can get uh potentially hurt, injured, or killed, like which has happened in West Texas and uh New Mexico and some other places. So, in identifying that, I was asked to uh what was we founded what was called the Energize for Safety Coalition focused on energy traffic and safety and improving those outcomes. Uh so I got together the Oklahoma Department of Transportation, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, or County Commissioners, elected officials, school leaders, and what we found out very quickly was that uh kids on two-lane highways uh struggled to understand to know how to respect and share the road with uh heavy truck traffic and equipment in the energy industry. Out of that, I would see these people wearing orange ribbons, my good friends from the Department of Transportation and the Turnpike and their contractors, asking what that meant. They said, Tom, that's that's for work zone safety. I was like, well, tell me more. And they said, Well, we've had over 70 of our employees killed. I was totally blown away, probably like most uh citizens had no idea the number of people that had hurt, injured, or killed. In fact, when they shared with me that outside of the of the National Guard, that they've had more people killed than any other state agency, including the Highway Patrol. And in fact, half of the Highway Patrol when they're uh when they're killed, unfortunately, it's because they're out on the road. They're they're doing traffic control, they're helping out in a work zone. Uh, and they had a memorial in front of their headquarters. Uh, we evaluated what they were using uh to uh to educate and engage teens. And it was a pamphlet way out of date with information that teens would promptly sort of uh toss in the garbage. And so uh I said, hey, do we want to apply some of the lessons that we learned in managing traffic and safety and uh working with teens uh to getting them to understand how those risks uh can impact them? And they said, absolutely. And that's how that's how the idea of work zone safe as an effort uh was started in Oklahoma.

Jeff Cranson 18:03

How does work zone safe fit in, I guess, with the with all those other agencies? It sounds like you kind of took the lead, but you brought everybody together, you built a little bit of a uh consortium to support this.

Shredding Pamphlets For Modern Training

SPEAKER_07 18:14

Yeah, so there's uh what I always say is um regardless of the point of entry, everybody who's sharing the road has a united goal from the from the drivers to the passengers to those that are working on the road to the first responders, and that's to arrive safely at home. And uh that was the group. If I said, look, if you're if you're representing drivers or passengers, or better yet, you have a flashing light or a reflective piece of clothing in your truck or uh in your car because you don't want to be hurt, injured, killed, or running over, you're on the team. And so it was very inclusive that way, bringing everybody together. And the goal was that the risk was being elevated. A record number of people coming out of COVID had been hurt, injured, or killed on our roadways. It was declared a public health crisis uh by the Secretary of Transportation at the time. And it was kind of an all hands-on-deck effort. And what we realized was that if and when kids were being um engaged or educated on work zone and move over safety, it was kind of through a pamphlet. They'd get a pamphlet with a plastic bag and a pen in it. And when it came to protecting workers, saving lives, and keeping people safe on the roadway, that just wasn't cutting it. So work zone safe was this effort to really roll up the sleeves and modernize the effort to shred our pamphlets and to implement real tools that would get real results.

Jeff Cranson 19:28

I think that you make a good point that a lot of people don't realize that often those workers that they see out there are actually utility workers. They're not necessarily road workers. A lot of that work has to be done in conjunction with road work, but sometimes it's not. And so your background and energy makes a lot of sense from that standpoint because um we're used to seeing linemen perhaps, you know, in our neighborhoods doing that kind of work, but often they're out on a two-lane or even on a freeway doing that work.

SPEAKER_07 19:53

So it's surveyors to linemen to first responders. There's so many people that the roadway is their work uh area, and that they're counting on you to help them make you safely through back home to the to the families and friends that they love at the end of the day. That's that's the shared go. So we set a new standard. So it works on safe. We have a mission. That mission is for every new driver to know that there's a face and family behind every flag, cone, and flashing light. So the standard is at anything that we do, the mission that we have that is now grown throughout the entire country, it's been adopted by states and it's scaled programs with us, is that the mission is simple. That these drivers know that there's a face and family behind every flag, cone, and flashing light. That's the new standard. Um, people are often, you know, hit over the head with a message of comply, comply, comply. And it's important. We have laws for very important reasons, and we have elevated fines and work zones and on the roadways uh to help keep people safe. But particularly this generation that's getting their driver's license now, they don't want to know just hey, I need to comply. They need to discover their why. So we want to give them that why, that empathy piece. And that begins with them understanding, which no one has ever told them before, that there's a face and family behind every flag phone and flashing light. So that's that's the ultimate glow. And then embedding all the principles of hair driving, distractor driving, um, seatbelt speeding, and all those things under that umbrella of that human element.

How Oklahoma Passed The Requirement

Jeff Cranson 21:19

So, were you surprised either by the challenge involved in getting this legislation over the finish line, or would you say that it was actually easier than you might have thought when you first launched into it?

SPEAKER_07 21:31

So when I first proposed, uh what we did in Oklahoma is we introduced it voluntarily. We got a coalition together. Um, all of us uh came together and they bought into this idea and plan I proposed uh that Oklahoma take work zone and move over safe seriously by modernizing our efforts that we shred our pamphlets. We do two things. One is we do kind of a hands on voluntary uh walkthrough work zone where they meet a face behind the flag con and flashing a light. And then we have a course that they can uh sign up for. And then we also, as we were doing so from day one, had uh scholarships and some fun. Things like sports tickets that they could win to kind of give a carrot or incentivize uh teens to thank them and/or their parents for directing them towards the course to taking it and learning about it. So we'd had a couple of thousand uh teen drivers, new drivers who had gone through the course, got great feedback on what they were learning, um, and were able to recognize and reward drivers. But when I then said, hey, what if we actually stepped up to the plate and uh met this crisis with some real legislation uh that would have teen drivers um having a requirement for them to complete that they know about work zone to move or safety by completing this course? People were enthusiastic. They wanted to see it done, but they were skeptical because they'd never seen anything done like that before. Um we had worked with um, you know, road safety impacts every legislator. It doesn't matter if you're Republican, Democrat, or what your political persuasion or background is. Everybody knows somebody, unfortunately, that's been hurt, injured, or killed. And as we talked to legislators across the state, regardless of their districts, rural, urban, Republican, or Democrat, there was a recognition that something needed to be done. And so we were able to do this. Uh, I think one of the things was we were able to deliver it online. Uh, so it was able to go to uh students all across the state. The other thing, uh, which I know mirrors the legislation that's we're proposed in Michigan, um, out of the box, we said, hey, for that user, this is valuable information, but we don't want them to have a charge directly to take it. So we weren't going to charge them, you know,$79.95 to take the course.

unknown 23:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 23:23

Um, and so they could take it$365, 24-7, just how teens learn today online at their own pace uh when they needed it, log in, just simply with the name and an email uh to get through the course and to get the information that they needed. Um, and so it was um, we got it authored by our transportation um House Transportation Chair, Representative Ronnie Johns. We got it authored by our uh public safety senate chair, um, Senator Yek, uh, got it passed through both committees. We had our coalition show up to those committees, talk to those members obviously in advance. Everyone from tow truck drivers who had been rushed off the side of the road to unfortunately had colleagues that were killed who are a highway patrolman. Uh Trooper Eric Foster, who had been um hit in a work zone, was there, uh, to obviously our road builders, our DOT was supportive. And at the end of the day, I think giving um lawmakers an opportunity to say, hey, there's something you're we're not gonna mandate something. We already have the mandate to keep workers safe and to educate teens about work zone and move our safety. What we're gonna do with this bill is modernize it. And pamphlets aren't cutting it. We're gonna modernize it. And so uh collectively, thankfully, our our governor, our legislature got behind that modernization effort. And uh it passed unanimously out of both committees and then passed uh almost unanimously off the House and Senate floors and was signed by uh Governor Kevin Stitt at the very tail end of 2023. So in 2024, Ropolma became the first state in the country uh to have a work zone and move or safe education requirement uh for their new teen drivers.

Jeff Cranson 24:49

So I have to ask you the question I always ask everybody when we talk about this, and that's um we just know it's really difficult to break through on this, not just with teens, but with with all drivers. What do you find resonates when you talk to you know family or friends about this topic? What actually gets their attention? Because so many of these messages and so much of the campaigns just seem to, you know, fade into the ether for people.

SPEAKER_07 25:15

So one is uh we do a really good job as an industry, you know, promoting and talking about safety. The challenges we tend to be talking about that to ourselves. Typically at a worksone, say, from a boilered event, everyone's gonna be part of the DOT, a contractor, a first responder, somebody who's been personally impacted. The great thing about this effort is it meets teens right before they're getting the keys placed in their hand, which isn't a right, it's a responsibility. And it's an awesome responsibility to be behind the wheel, uh, to be able to uh get to places where you need to go, to unlock doors as far as freedom, but it also has a personal responsibility that you know it can seriously hurt, injure, or kill someone. And so we're meeting them right at that decision point. What I like to say is nobody wakes up on their 40th birthday and decides to finally be a works on safe driver and move, move over safe for first responders. They either understand that principle when they're 15, 16, 17 years old and are introduced to that. And so really we have an introductory point uh that we weren't reaching before. We had great content. The Department of Transportation, the Turnpike Authority, Highway Patrol has like every state does, a very uh heart-tugging, uh just great messages and videos that can deliver the message. What we lacked was the ability to get it in front of folks. Um and the the way that we solved that is doing it right before the driver's license. So we're reaching a constituency that we need to absolutely reach, which is new drivers. We're doing so at a point where they're thinking about and learning about driving, and then we're bringing that message home. So it was a new way to deliver great messages in a unified fashion to a group that needed to hear it, if that makes sense.

Jeff Cranson 26:46

Are there any measures? Uh, is it is it too soon? These things take a while to play out before we can tell if they've made a dent or not. But uh are there any measures where you can say you think it's it's had some success?

SPEAKER_07 26:57

Well, um, yeah, you're right. It's a little too soon. But before we'd go to events and we'd set up a walkthrough work zone where the teens would meet a face behind the flag cone and flashing light, and then they'd be invited to take the course. And that would be really the first time you could tell that they were ever hearing about the faces behind the flag cone and flashing light. Now we go to events with our partner of transportation, our turnpike, our contractors, and we set those up. What we hear from the teens immediately is like, oh yeah, I took that course, you know, but when I got my driver's license, there's already that recognition. Then I always pause and I look at them and say, okay, what'd you learn? And they'll say, I need to put my phone down. I need to pay attention. There's faces and families behind there. When you talk to teens, they're anxious and nervous uh to go through a work zone, they're white knuckling it through, or they don't feel prepared, they get scared with the barriers, with the shifting lanes. We want to take them from being scared to prepared. And so having that conversation and it allowing them to actually go in greater depth with the signs, scenarios, and laws is a service to them and one that they're actually asking for because they'll tell you that they have anxiety. The other thing is, and I'm just going to be frank, they have terrible examples in the car growing up, typically with their parents and the other people that are driving. When you ask teens, which I do often, which of you would say that you have a work zone safe, move over safe driver as a parent or in the car uh that you've been growing up with. And by safe, I just mean that they don't go more than five over and they're not on a phone when they go through work zone. And 90% of the kids say, no, my parents are speeding and/or they're on a phone. I was afraid you were going to say that. So the challenge is even if they're getting a safety message from mom and dad, a lot of the behaviors that they're seeing from the backseat aren't matching what they're being told, right? So the best, the best thing you have uh as a parent is your example. And so uh that's the other thing that I get to talk to a lot of parents about is I say, um, you know, look, you're the number one teacher for your child. And if you want them to come home safe every day and you don't want them to have a crash and you don't want them to be injured or worse, uh, we need you to be able to have eyes up, phone down, buckle up, slow down. That message needs to go to your new team driver, but it also needs to go to you. So yeah, we've we've had great success, very little hiccups. We have over about four to five thousand kids a month who now take Oklahoma Work Zone Safe. Uh, they know the names and faces on that memorial now. They know the stories. Uh, they know that there were veterans, that there are coaches, that there were members in the community uh that no longer get to come home. They learned about impairment, uh, speeding, distraction, uh, moving over safe, the laws, the signs, and the scenarios. Since then, we've had multiple states reach out to us and we've partnered with them and to be able to uh bring a program to their state to be able to turnkey do that. Connecticut's a perfect example. Unfortunately, they had a worker that was killed about a year ago. The head of the DOT, uh, Garrett E. Solito called and said, Hey, I don't want to just put another memorial uh on our memorials. I want to do something like you guys have done in Oklahoma. They passed a law so every new teen driver uh completes Connecticut work zone safe, and every single one of them knows the name and information about that driver that was killed, or excuse me, the worker that was killed. They went a step further. So if you've never had a license and you're getting a license in the state of Connecticut, so you delayed it, or maybe you're new to the country or whatever your situation is, um, you also have to take work zone safe. So you're getting that baseline. In addition to that, if you get a uh ticket uh violation in a Connecticut work zone, you're required to take works on safe. So in that state, we reach not just the adults, or excuse me, not just the teens, but also the new drivers who might be older, and then also adults who are offenders in a work zone. Because again, yeah, comply, pay the fine, but really we want you to know your why, and we want you to have a shift in behavior because you know and understand the reason behind workshop safety.

Jeff Cranson 30:35

But your legislation, it sounds like from what you said, the the language is actually uh pretty succinct and pretty simple, right? But it includes the word shall.

Keeping The Course Current

SPEAKER_07 30:43

Yep. So it's it's very simple. It's one word, it's one uh sentence. So we have a graduated license system in Oklahoma, like a lot of states do. So before they get their graduated license, the requirement that was added is one sentence. It's shall complete the Oklahoma Departments of Transportation's uh free approved course on work zone and move over safety, period. Uh the nice thing about that is we're able to go in and update it. You know, we've had some impacts, particularly around impaired uh driving since uh medical marijuana was passed in the state. Unfortunately, we had some girls that were killed uh who made some uh just poor decisions that a lot of teenagers do about impaired driving that involve THC and marijuana in a work zone. And because of that, uh we were uh introduced um this past October during National Uh uh Team Drive Work Zone Safe Week. Uh, we introduced an impairment section with the Department of Transportation to talk about the impacts of THC, marijuana, of course, DUI other drugs. Um, when there's new devices, new signs, we update those. Um, and so it's an ongoing um living, breathing curriculum that we're able to update that kids complete for free before they get their license.

Jeff Cranson 31:44

Well, that's a good point. I don't think that anybody should think that uh if this legislation gets out of the legislature and is signed by the governor, that that means that we're done with this. There's always going to be room for improvement. I think that's true in every state. So I'm I'm glad you made that point. Well, Tom, thank you so much for talking about this and how things have gone in Oklahoma. It's a it's a good model, and it sounds like other states are are looking your way, so you should feel good about that. Absolutely. We'll have over a quarter million kids in 2026.

Closing Thanks And Resources

SPEAKER_07 32:13

New team drivers that'll take and complete works on Safe Online in more than six states all across the country. And glad that Michigan's looking at at doing you know a similar uh education legislative effort because we know that when teens understand that there's a face and family behind every flagphone and flashing a light, that we can that we can save lives. So, yeah, pretty exciting. Yeah, very well said. Thank you again.

Jeff Cranson 32:34

I'd like to thank you once more for tuning in to Talking Michigan Transportation. You can find show notes and more on Apple Podcasts or Buzz Rout. I also want to acknowledge the talented people who help make this a reality each week, starting with Randy Doubler, who skillfully edits the audio, Jesse Ball, who poops the content, and Jackie Salinas, who posts the podcast to various platforms and transcribes the audio to make it accessible to all.