Skip to main content

GHSA presents 2019 highway safety awards

The Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) has presented its road safety awards to two individuals and four programmes in the US. Candace Lightner, president of We Save Lives - a non-profit organisation which focuses on reducing drunk, drugged and distracted driving - won the James J. Howard Highway Safety Trailblazer Award. She is also the founder of Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Ford Driving Skills for Life (Ford DSFL) global programme manager Jim Graham received the Kathryn J.R. Swanson Publi
August 28, 2019 Read time: 2 mins
The 4948 Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) has presented its road safety awards to two individuals and four programmes in the US.


Candace Lightner, president of We Save Lives - a non-profit organisation which focuses on reducing drunk, drugged and distracted driving - won the James J. Howard Highway Safety Trailblazer Award. She is also the founder of 4949 Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

Ford Driving Skills for Life (Ford DSFL) global programme manager Jim Graham received the Kathryn J.R. Swanson Public Service Award. During his tenure with Ford DSFL, he has brought free, hands-on advanced driver training to newly licensed drivers. Graham and the Ford DSFL programme helped launch GHSA’s state grant programme, which provides funding to help states augment their existing teen safe driving efforts.

Additionally, GHSA presented four Peter K. O’Rourke Special Achievement Awards for outstanding highway safety accomplishments to the following programmes:

• The Connecticut Superior Court's Online Adjudication system enables individuals who plead ‘not guilty’ to an infraction to participate in the court process electronically, rather than be required to physically appear in court.
• The Montana Family, Career and Community Leaders of America's Traffic Safety Programme provides public and private school students traffic safety training depending on students' grade levels.
• The South Dakota Office of Highway Safety's ‘Jim Reaper’ campaign inserts a Grim Reaper character into the lives of everyday people as a reminder that making decisions such as wearing a seat belt or helmet can prevent death.
• The Washington Regional Alcohol Programme (WRAP) has removed tens of thousands of drunk drivers from the region’s roads through its SoberRide programme. In 2017, WRAP partnered with 8789 Lyft to assist with the programme, which saw utilisation increase by more than 300%.

The presentations took place at GHSA’s annual meeting in Anaheim, California.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Fewer cars - more reckless drivers, says GHSA
    April 22, 2020
    Emptier streets may be a green light for some US drivers to flaunt the law, according to police reports.
  • CES 2019 says hello to the future
    February 20, 2019
    The launch of the latest gadgets has made the Consumer Electronics Show into tech heaven for geeks worldwide – but there is a serious ITS component, too. Ben Spencer braves the bright lights of Las Vegas to find out more The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) has been the showcase for some of the world’s most iconic gadgets – from VCRs to the Commodore 64, and from the camcorder to the launch of HDTV. This has made CES a mecca for tech heads all over the world since it began in the 1960s, but these days it
  • New Guideline helps states better collect crash data
    July 3, 2012
    The Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) in the US has announced that the 4th Edition of the Model Minimum Uniform Crash Criteria (MMUCC) Guideline has been posted online at www.mmucc.us. The voluntary guideline helps states determine what data to collect at the scene of a motor vehicle crash. The Guideline will, among other things, help states better capture data for emerging issues such as distracted driving, secondary crashes and incidents on private property as well as determine the level of seri
  • Enforcement a key part of the road safety solution
    January 31, 2012
    The Partnership for Advancing Road Safety is a new organisation set up in the US to push the national debate on speed and intersection safety, something which hitherto has been absent. Here, executive director David Kelly explains the organisation's work. With moves to address drink/drug driving and the wearing of seatbelts starting to prove successful in the US, the use of inappropriate speed and poor driving at intersections have become responsible for a proportionately greater number of the deaths and in