KDOT Transportation Safety Conference

Charles Marohn, known as “Chuck” to friends and colleagues, is the founder and president of Strong Towns. He is a land use planner and civil engineer with decades of experience. He holds a bachelor's degree in civil engineering and a Master of Urban and Regional Planning, both from the University of Minnesota.

Marohn is the author of Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Rebuild American Prosperity, and of Confessions of a Recovering Engineer: Transportation for a Strong Town. He hosts the Strong Towns Podcast and is a primary writer for Strong Towns’ web content. He has presented Strong Towns’ concepts in hundreds of cities and towns across North America. Plantizen named him one of the 10 Most Influential Urbanists of all time.

Keynote Presentation: Transportation for a Strong Town

We all want to live in a place where the transportation system serves residents. The costs of the North American transportation system are too high—and not just in money, but in time, safety, and quality of life. No one should have to live in a community where transportation gets worse while costing more. It’s unwise and unfair to be wasting precious time and resources on something this bad.

Charles Marohn explains why the conventional approach to traffic engineering is making people less safe, bankrupting towns and cities, destroying the fabric of communities, and actually worsening the problems (like congestion) engineers set out to solve. Transportation can be fixed—and he’ll explain why fixing it will involve not just engineers, but local residents and officials who have become effective and empowered advocates, connected with others to make real change.

Modern Driver Education: Going Beyond the “Rules of the Road” to Support the Safe System Approach

Presenter: William Van Tassel, AAA Manager, Driver Training Programs

William E. Van Tassel, PhD. is the manager, Driver Training Operations. AAA national office, responsible for developing, implementing and evaluating AAA’s driver education/training programs since June of 2004. William earned his Ph.D. in Safety Education from Texas A&M University. Professional work includes serving as President of the American Driver and Traffic Safety Education Association (ADTSEA), 2019-2021 and three-time Chair of the Association of National Stakeholders in Traffic Safety Education (ANSTSE), which is responsible for advancing the NHTSA-funded National Driver Education Standards. Has been qualified as an expert witness, providing testimony in driving-related legal trials and has also worked with the US Army at its Safety Center on prevention of motor vehicle crashes. Distinguished awards William has received include: The Silvernale Award, for outstanding contributions in traffic safety education, from the Michigan Driver and Traffic Safety Education Association (MDTSEA) and the George R. Hensel Leadership Award, in recognition of leadership on behalf of the traffic safety industry, from the Driving School Association of the Americas (DSAA).

William has been quoted in the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, U.S. News & World Report, and USA Today on driver safety and training issues. He has also published multiple peer-reviewed articles in journals and proceedings related to public health and traffic safety, including publications in The International Conference on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety (ICADTS) and The Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM).

Research interests include vehicle technology and autonomous vehicles, measurement of alcohol in the body and advanced driving skill courses. As perhaps an interesting counterpoint to William’s interest in driving safety, he is a national champion sports car racer and has been a paid stunt driver for video shoots.

Plenary Presentation Title: Modern Driver Education: Going Beyond the “Rules of the Road” to Support the Safe System Approach
With peer-reviewed research confirming that a full-length, quality driver education program can result in fewer crashes and citations, such programs can legitimately claim to substantially support the “Safer People” component of the Safe System Approach. But what about the other components? Can driver education also positively influence safer speeds, vehicles, and roads, as well as post-crash care? The answer is “yes.”

Join a discussion on the full scope of the relationship between driver education and the Safe System Approach. And learn how driver education in Kansas can be enhanced to:

• Meet national standards
• Have significant impact on road safety, and
• Help achieve the state’s Drive to Zero initiative

The Fatal Consequences of Distracted Driving: Remembering Cassy

Presenters: Todd Linder and Amy Ruiz

Todd Linder and Amy Ruiz, a father and daughter from Southwest Kansas, transformed their profound grief into a powerful platform for advocacy and awareness. Their journey began with the heartbreaking loss of their daughter and sister, Cassandra Kay Linder. Todd, a dedicated Region 6 Production Manager with UniFirst for two decades, leverages his professional position to advocate for safe driving practices. Amy, a Senior Clinical Trials Associate at IQVIA, shares Cassy's story with moving eloquence, emphasizing the importance of being present in each precious moment. United by their shared passion for safety, Todd and Amy pour their hearts into their advocacy work, ensuring that Cassy's memory serves as a catalyst for change in the fight against distracted driving.

On March 13, 2023, Cassandra Kay Linder, a bright and compassionate young woman, tragically lost her life due to a distracted commercial motor vehicle driver. Cassy, just 16 years old, had been eagerly anticipating her high school graduation in May 2025 and planned to attend the University of Kansas that fall, following in her sister Amy's footsteps. More than just sisters, Cassy and Amy were inseparable friends, sharing countless dreams for the future, including attending the Taylor Swift Eras Tour in Kansas City in July 2023. Though Cassy couldn't be there in person, her sisters Amy and Brina attended the concert in her memory, a tribute to Cassy’s vibrant spirit and her love for life. Through their work, Todd and Amy strive to raise awareness about the dangers of distracted driving, hoping to prevent other families from experiencing the same profound loss.

Cassy’s family has turned their grief into a powerful mission to protect others, encouraging responsible driving practices and fostering dialogue about the impacts of distracted driving. By courageously sharing their painful experience, they strive to create a future where preventable tragedies like theirs become a thing of the past. In each step of this journey, they carry Cassy’s spirit with them, a guiding light that fuels their unwavering commitment to ensure her memory lives on as a beacon of change.

Revolutionizing Emergency Response: Getting Crash Data in the Hands of Kansas 911 and Field Responders through RapidDeploy

RapidDeploy is at the forefront of transforming emergency response in Kansas! By seamlessly integrating crash data from OnStar and Bosch, and enhanced location data from Apple and Google, RapidDeploy ensures that critical information reaches Kansas 911 centers through the Radius Map and field responders via the Lightning mobile app even before the 911 call is made.

In this dynamic session, we’ll dive into the current use of Radius and Lightning in Kansas, explore future feature enhancements, and will highlight their pivotal role in revolutionizing Kansas emergency response. Join us for an exciting update on the latest enhancements, discover how data and vehicle telematics are empowering responders with post-crash care, and see how these innovations are drastically improving the speed and accuracy of delivering life-saving information to field responders. (real time data sharing)

Plus, take a deep dive into the “Bring Your Own Device” or “Agency Device” initiative, Kansas 911’s groundbreaking contract for 25,000 licenses for responders at no cost to the agency, and how cutting-edge responder location data is boosting emergency response efficiency and ensuring responder safety.

How to be an Advocate for Safer Streets in Your Town

Charles Marohn will demonstrate that many of the collisions plaguing our communities are actually preventable. He will assist the audience with diagramming a street section of an actual crash location and guide you through assessing the design factors that led to the collision occurring in the first place.

Planning for Safer Access to Schools: Benefiting the Entire Community

In this session, attendees will learn how KDOT is planning for the most vulnerable of road users—school children. With its new, revitalized Safe Routes to School (SRTS) Program, KDOT has tailored its program to fit the needs of Kansas schools and communities of all sizes. Launched in Fall 2023, the SRTS Program has worked with 18 communities to improve policies, systems and the environment to encourage and pave the way for kids to regularly and joyfully walk, bike, and roll to school without stress. Planning and building safe routes to school benefits the entire community, not just students. Families, seniors, pet parents, people with disabilities, non-drivers, etc., all benefit. Presenters will discuss Kansas’s new model for SRTS and provide examples of how planning has led to big changes in programming and construction, motivated decision makers, and energized communities statewide to join the movement for safety, active living, and an overall improved quality of life that allows for meaningful human connections.

Leveraging User Data to Optimize Corridor Safety

Learn aboutthe correlation between data collected on segments of safety corridors US-24 and US-83/50. Traditional crash data from KDOT and Michelin's Mobility Intelligence were used to evaluate the effectiveness of traffic safety measures: education, enforcement, engineering and emergency response strategies. Presenters share their findings on how technology can be used to understand driver behavior and improve safety outcomes on Kansas highways.

Empowering Connections

Carter Kits are a non-profit, Michigan based, supply, founded by two first responders. They offer a comprehensive approach to improving provider readiness to care for those on the spectrum, or who are neurodiverse. In addition to the sensory bags, they have many training options, including a free train-the-trainer program. The Kansas EMSC Communication Cards are a tool for emergency personnel and their patients (designed with young children, non-verbal children and children with special needs in mind).

How Public Health Officials Can Contribute to Traffic Safety Initiatives

This session will feature public health practitioners from local and state health departments discussing the role of public health in supporting the development of safe systems approaches. Speakers will describe how the goals of transportation and public health often overlap. Public health partners can contribute tools and supports to increase safety for vulnerable road users.

Collaborating for Safer Steets; WAMPO's Journey to Securing an SS4A Grant and Building the ICT Safe Coalition

Discover how the Wichita Area Metropolitan Planning Organization's (WAMPO) collaborative approach helped secure a Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) grant and led to the formation of the ICT Safe Coalition. WAMPO staff and transportation safety champions will share strategies for engaging partners in the development and implementation of a Comprehensive Safety Action Plan and ongoing safety initiatives. This session will explore how combining engineering and enforcement with community engagement is vital for achieving funding success and ultimately driving Kansas fatalities toward zero.

Driver's Education Panel-Addressing the Teen Driver

Attendees will learn about teen driving education in Kansas both privately operated and #USD drivers education programs under the guidance of the Kansas Departments of Revenue and Education. The audience will also learn about a program through the Police Athletic League of Kansas City, Kansas designed for teens in Wyandotte County, KS who cannot afford private driver's education instruction.

Scene by Scene: The Journey from Crash Response to Care in Rural Kansas

Experience the unfolding story of a rural crash response, step by step, through the eyes of those on the front lines. This session features a panel of diverse professionals—law enforcement, EMS, and hospital staff—who will walk you through each phase of responding to and caring for crash victims in rural Kansas. From the first 911 call to emergency care in the hospital, they will share the unique challenges they face, such as limited resources, long response times, and the need for seamless coordination to optimize the survivability of crash victims in rural Kansas.

We Have a Plan, Now What? Implementing Local Transportation

If your community wants to construct safer roadways or fund safety curriculum in the classroom, having a plan in place is great. But far too often communities are challenged with finding funds to help with implementation. In this session, participants will learn from KDOT staff about the various programs and resources available and learn what makes an application more competitive to help take your plans from the shelf to the streets.

Current KDOT Innovative Information Deployment

Advanced Driver Assistance Systems: Technology’s Role in Achieving Safer Vehicles 

With advances in vehicles occurring so substantially and rapidly, the “Safer Vehicles” component of the Safe System Approach warrants special attention, in terms of opportunities to address motor vehicle crashes. Join the discussion as the latest ADAS/vehicle technologies are explored, including:

• The challenges of preparing new and experienced drivers to use their technologies safely and effectively
• What specific vehicle technologies consumers actually want, and are willing to pay for
• Consumers’ current concerns about different levels of vehicle autonomy
• The latest results of functional testing- how today’s technologies actually perform