May is Global Youth Traffic Safety Month

May is Global Youth Traffic Safety Month. This month is sponsored by the National Organizations for Youth Safety (NOYS) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). It includes an annual awareness campaign that encourages youth organizations and youth to participate in traffic safety projects in their communities and promotes safe teen driving behavior. It raises awareness and aims to inspire individual actions that can change the statistics of road traffic accidents by teens.

Car crashes are the number one cause of preventable deaths for teens. Teens crash most often because they are inexperienced; they struggle with judging gaps in traffic, driving the right speed for conditions, and turning safely, among other things.

A few things you can do as a parent or role model of a teen are:

Drive the way you want your teen to drive: when you are behind the wheel, don’t do anything you wouldn’t want your teen to do. If they catch you doing something wrong – admit to your mistakes. It shows your teen driver that it is never too late to start driving safely and serves as a good learning moment
Limit your teen to zero or one passenger for at least the first six months that they have a license
Don’t allow activities that take your teen’s attention away from driving, such as talking on a cell phone, texting, eating, or playing with the radio
Create a Parent-Teen Driving Agreement that puts your rules in writing to clearly set expectations and limits; here is one example to get you started: P-T Agreement

For more information and helpful resources on teen driving check out the teen section of the Center for Disease Control's (CDC) website.

NHTSA reminds parents to set the rules before their teens hit the road with the "5 to Drive":

No cell phones while driving
No extra passengers
No speeding
No alcohol
No driving or riding without a seatbelt

National Bicycle Safety Month

May is National Bicycle Safety Month; a time set aside to focus on putting safety first and to encourage more people to bike, ride safely, and wear helmets. Below are some tips to be safe when riding:

Always wear a properly fitted helmet: instructions on how to properly fit a helmet are available here. If you need a helmet, the TPO can provide one to you free of charge, just contact Pam @ PBlankenship@r2ctpo.org
Ride on the right side of the road with traffic, never against it and obey all traffic laws and signals; have children and inexperienced riders ride on the sidewalk and make sure they look for cars backing out of driveways
Be Seen: wear bright clothing and reflective gear, and use a white front light, red rear light, and reflector on your bike (at night, or when visibility is poor)
Be Predictable: by riding predictably, you are telling motorists what you intend to do or not do, so they can adjust their own moves and prevent a crash
Use Proper Hand Signals: The image below from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) shows the hand signals a cyclist needs to know to be able to communicate their intentions to drivers
Choose the right bicycle for you: will you be riding every day or just occasionally? trail riding or street cycling? Here is a handy guide to help you: How to choose a bike

For more bike safety information, check out the TPO's safety page.

Bicycle Safety Public Service Announcement

In an effort to increase awareness about sharing the road safely with bicyclists at intersections, the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) District Five partnered with the Volusia Sheriff’s Office (VSO) to develop a Public Service Announcement (PSA) that is being used to kick off National Bicycle Month, May 2023. The PSA is available for you to share on your website(s), social media platform(s), in meetings and presentations, etc.

To download the PSA, please go to: Bicycle Safety PSA

River to Sea TPO

May Calendar of Activities

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
	5/1 FDOT Press Conference on National Bicycle Month 11:30 am Volusia Sheriff’s Training Facility Daytona Beach	5/2	5/3 Executive Committee Meeting** 9:00 am	5/4 Mobility Week's Bike Lane Design Contest Presentation 8:00 am McInnis Elementary School Media Center TIP Subcommittee Meeting** 1:30 pm	5/5	5/6
5/7	5/8	5/9 Flagler Community Traffic Safety Team (CTST) Meeting 9:00 am Flagler Gov't Services Bldg. #2 Bunnell	5/10 BPAC Meeting* 2:00pm	5/11	5/12	5/13
5/14	5/15	5/16 CAC & TCC Meetings* 1:15 & 3:00 pm respectively	5/17	5/18 Health & Human Services Summit 9:00 am - 2:30 pm Ocean Center Daytona Beach	5/19	5/20
5/21	5/22	5/23	5/24 River to Sea TPO Board Meeting* 9:00 am	5/25 East Volusia Community Traffic Safety Team (CTST) Meeting 9:00 am Volusia County Public Works Northeast Services Facility	5/26	5/27
5/28	5/29 Memorial Day TPO Office Closed	5/30	5/31	6/1	6/2	6/3

*Meeting held in the Airline Room at Daytona Beach International Airport, 700 Catalina Drive, Daytona Beach, 32114 (parking will be validated)

**Meeting held at the River to Sea TPO office, 1 Deuce Court, Suite 100, Daytona Beach, 32124

Upcoming TPO Committee

& Board Activities

In May, the River to Sea TPO Board and Advisory Committees will be adopting an amendment to the TPO's FY 2022/23 and 2023/24 Unified Planning Work Program and adopting targets for PM2 (Bridge & Pavement) and PM3 (System Performance & Freight Movement). They will be hearing presentations on the draft Volusia and Flagler Functional Classification Maps as well as the Draft FY 2023/24 to 2027/28 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) and draft 2023 List of Priority Projects. Missed the April TPO Board meeting? Check out the presentations on SR A1A Resiliency and Reducing Bicycle Fatalities through Social Marketing.

Additional information on agendas for TPO Board and committee meetings is available at River to Sea TPO Agendas

Information on TPO outreach and activities is available at Outreach & Activities