The Colorado Department of Transportation and Mothers Against Drunk Driving have announced the winners of the 2020 ‘Law Enforcement Champion Awards’ for Colorado. These awards focus on efforts to reduce impaired driving, increase the use of seat belts, and reduce speeding in the state.
A law enforcement champion is an individual with outstanding contributions in the prevention and enforcement of impaired driving, traffic safety, or occupant protection. This can be demonstrated by efforts such as DUI patrols or safety belt campaigns during the established enforcement periods throughout the year. It can also be demonstrated by advanced training, drug recognition expert activity, high visibility enforcement tactics, community engagement, prevention programs, and other related activities.
A full list of the Champions can be viewed here.
“We are grateful to the brave men and women in law enforcement who keep our roads and communities safe, even during ever-changing circumstances like a global pandemic and unprecedented wildfires,” said CDOT Executive Director Shoshana Lew. “At CDOT, we are committed to taking a holistic approach to the safety of our system — and part of that is recognizing the service of public safety officials, as well as our responsibility to do whatever we can to keep them safe on the job.”
Unfortunately, this is a challenging time on Colorado roads. While traffic is down due to COVID-19 precautions, fatalities from suspected drunk and drugged driving are actually up 15% through August 31 according to CDOT Fatal Crash Data. In addition to recognizing the achievements of award winners, MADD and CDOT sought to highlight the importance of DUI enforcement and encourage Colorado drivers to do their part by always planning ahead for a safe ride home.
“So many people will never know the debt that they owe to our law enforcement heroes. Every time they stop a drunk or drugged driver, they potentially save a life,” said MADD Colorado State Executive Director Fran Lanzer. “We’re fortunate to have so many dedicated men and women protecting our communities.”
Due to COVID-19 restrictions on events, MADD Colorado and CDOT chose to announce the awards during a virtual event on September 30. The full ceremony can be viewed online here. Event sponsors included presenting sponsor Bachus & Schanker with additional support from Walmart Neighborhood Market, the Association of Colorado State Patrol Professionals, Safeway, OfficeFeeder, Evans Case Attorneys at Law, Ross Investigators PC, and Personicare Healthcare Network.
“We’re proud to be the presenting sponsor for these outstanding law enforcement awards and we congratulate the award winners and nominees,” said Kyle Bachus, founding partner of Bachus & Schanker. “As a personal injury law firm, we far too often see the devastating injuries and trauma to victims and their families as a result of drunk and drugged driving crashes. Our sponsorship is our commitment to join with MADD Colorado, CDOT, and law enforcement across the state to make our communities safer.”
Whole System. Whole Safety
To heighten safety awareness, CDOT recently announced its Whole System Whole Safety initiative. This project takes a systematic statewide approach to safety combining the benefits of CDOT’s programs that address driving behaviors, our built environment and the organization’s operations. The goal is to improve the safety of Colorado’s transportation network by reducing the rate and severity of crashes and improving safety conditions for those traveling by all transportation modes. The program has one simple mission – to get everyone home safely.
About CDOT
CDOT has approximately 3,000 employees located at its Denver headquarters and in regional offices throughout Colorado, and manages more than 23,000 lane miles of highway and 3,429 bridges. CDOT also manages grant partnerships with a range of other agencies, including metropolitan planning organizations, local governments and airports. It also administers Bustang, the state-owned and operated interregional express service. Governor Polis has charged CDOT to further build on the state’s intermodal mobility options.
About MADD
Founded in 1980 by a mother whose daughter was killed by a drunk driver, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) is the nation’s largest nonprofit working to end drunk driving, help fight drugged driving, support the victims of these violent crimes and prevent underage drinking. MADD has provided supportive services to nearly one million drunk and drugged driving victims and survivors at no charge through local victim advocates and the 24-Hour Victim Help Line 1-877-MADD-HELP (877-623-3435). Visit www.madd.org or call 1-877-ASK-MADD (877-275-6233).