People Saving People nominations now being accepted by KDOT

Nominations for the 2017 People Saving People Award are now being accepted by the Kansas Department of Transportation.

The award is presented to a person or organization that advocates safety and has a positive effect in transportation safety behavior. Awards are presented in three categories: community leadership and engineering; education and information; and enforcement, emergency response, prosecution and adjudication.

           More details about the awards and nomination forms can be found at www.ktsro.org. Nominations must be submitted by email, mail or fax by midnight Feb. 10.

The awards will be presented April 5 at the annual Kansas Transportation Safety Conference in Wichita.

The 2016 winners include:

Karen Wittman, Kansas Attorney General’s Office—Wittman was a traffic safety resource prosecutor for the State of Kansas. Wittman taught classes, prosecuted cases, met with other impaired driving prevention professionals and coordinated with law enforcement and traffic safety resource prosecutors across the country. In addition she taught “boot camps” that provide new prosecutors with the basic resources for prosecuting impaired drivers.

Norraine Wingfield, Kansas Traffic Safety Resource Office— Wingfield has worked for the last 10 years to reduce traffic safety injuries and fatalities in Kansas with KTSRO. She has also served on the National Child Passenger Safety Board and the AARP Board of Directors and spoke at Lifesavers and Kidz in Motion conferences.

Brown County Sheriff’s Office: Teen Lifesaver Initiative— The Teen Lifesaver Initiative started two years ago, and teaches high school students first aid and CPR as well as how to use an Automated External Defibrillator to help those injured in serious crashes. Students from every high school in Brown County have been trained in live-saving measures from the Brown County Sheriff’s Office, Horton Police Department and the Brown County Health Department.

Addie Evans and Katelyn Burkhart, Buhler High School—The two students worked on a class project inspired by a friend’s severe injury due to a drunk driver. In their studies the two learned that the trauma caused by the death of a loved one is enough pain, but the trauma caused by a decision that could have been prevented is worse. With that in mind they organized a fundraising walk called March4Sobriety, designed t-shirts, created a GoFundMe page and distributed flyers. All of the money raised for the walk was donated to Mothers Against Drunk Driving-Kansas.