Informing UCONN’s Future Transportation Professionals

At the end of February, I had the opportunity to give a presentation to a UCONN graduate class, Seminar in Transportation and Urban Engineering. I was provided a similar opportunity last year as well, and I truly appreciate the chance to speak to these students. The relationship between the University’s School of Engineering and the T2 Center is an important and valuable one, and these presentations reinforce that connection.

Prior to my presentation, I recently had an experience working with a group of senior design students from another university and realized they weren’t familiar with some of the Proven Safety Countermeasures from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). It seemed like these tools would be valuable information for students to have as they prepared to enter the world of engineering and roadway safety. My UCONN presentation highlighted FHWA’s newly revamped Proven Safety Countermeasures website and the recent addition of nine new countermeasures, for a total of 28. I also had the chance to explain what we do at the T2 Center and what services I provide as the Safety Circuit Rider.

The students were engaged and asked several questions about the information I provided. I also shared my presentation with them so they could reference the material afterwards. I shared several examples of installed Proven Safety Countermeasures around the state, and we discussed their safety benefits. The T2 Center’s website, which I also shared with them, maintains a repository of Connecticut Safety Examples and identifies those that are Proven Safety Countermeasures.

The opportunity to connect with the future transportation professionals of Connecticut is one that I welcome and embrace. The more information we all have on roadway safety and the more tools at our disposal, the safer all of Connecticut will be.

If you would like assistance with local road safety in your community, contact Melissa Evans, Safety Circuit Rider, at melissa.evans@uconn.edu.

Resources:

Federal Highway Administration, Office of Safety https://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/provencountermeasures/