Columbus, Ohio | May 2-3, 2019
The NGA Solutions: Center for Best Practices’ Impaired Driving Convening brought together 13 states to discuss strategies to address transportation safety and elevate the issue for governors’ policy advisers and senior state officials to improve state responses and activities to reduce unintentional injuries and deaths. The convening raised awareness of the risks of impaired driving, shared best practices among states in countering both drug and alcohol impaired driving and highlighted key policy and programmatic approaches. This convening was a joint effort between NGA Energy, Infrastructure & Environment and NGA Homeland Security and Public Safety.
Day 1: Thursday, May 2
Registration and Breakfast
- Speakers:
- Jeff McLeod, Director, Homeland Security and Public Safety, National Governors Association
- Erin K. Sauber-Schatz, Team Lead, Transportation Safety Team, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
State Introductions
Each state will briefly present on impaired driving priorities and challenges in their respective states.
- Moderator: Elise Simonsen, Policy Analyst, Homeland Security and Public Safety, National Governors Association
The Ohio Perspective
- Speakers:
- Alisha Nelson, Director, RecoveryOhio
- Samuel Criswell, Sergeant, Drug Recognition Expert Coordinator, Traffic Safety Office, Ohio State Highway Patrol
- Jim Barna, Executive Director, DriveOhio
- Moderator: Garrett Eucalitto, Program Director; Energy, Environment and Infrastructure, National Governors Association
Impaired Driving in 2019: Trends, Polysubstance Use and Gaps
Despite best efforts, impaired driving remains a leading contributor to traffic crashes, fatalities and injuries. From alcohol to marijuana to opioids and polysubstance use impairment, the landscape is changing. This session will review recent trends in impairment and lay out the most common challenges states are encountering.
- Speakers:
- Angela Eichelberger, Senior Research Scientist, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety
- Darrin Grondel, Director, Washington Traffic Safety Commission
- Christian Newlin, Lieutenant, Utah Highway Patrol
- Moderator: Leah Walton, Safety Advocate, National Transportation Safety Board
Drivers who fall at either end of the age spectrum pose specific challenges to those trying to combat impaired driving. From different messaging approaches, varying combinations of substances and distinct trends, this panel will discuss the difficulty in addressing impaired driving among both youthful and more seasoned drivers.
- Speakers:
- Tara Kelley-Baker, Data and Information Group Leader, AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety
- Erin K. Sauber-Schatz, Team Lead, Transportation Safety Team, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- Moderator: Garrett Eucalitto, Program Director; Energy, Environment and Infrastructure, National Governors Association
Breakout Session 2: Closing the Research Gaps in Impaired Driving Data
Data are critical to a wide range of highway traffic safety efforts aimed at enhancing traffic safety. This panel will tap into what data is missing or needed, challenges in current reporting practices and how states can leverage data and existing partnerships to combat impaired driving.
- Speakers:
- Ryan C. Smith, Research Scientist, Group Lead, Virginia Tech Transportation Institute
- DeReece Smither, Research Psychologist, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation
- Moderator: Jeff Locke, Program Director, Homeland Security and Public Safety, National Governors Association
Fireside Chat Lunch
- Speakers:
- Jonlee Anderle, Region 5 Administrator, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation
- Erin K. Sauber-Schatz, Team Lead, Transportation Safety Team, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- Moderator: Jeff McLeod, Director, Homeland Security and Public Safety, National Governors Association
Roadside Testing: Current Practices, Challenges for Policymakers, And Innovations
This session will review current scientific understanding of drugged and poly-use driving and highlight certain limitations for policymakers, challenges related to identification and enforcement, and the role of DRE programs and other innovative state practices.
- Speakers:
- Bill O’Leary, Highway Safety Specialist, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation
- Curt Harper, Chief Toxicologist, Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences
- Moderator: Tara Kelley-Baker, Data and Information Group Leader, AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety
The Role of Toxicology to Tackle Drug Impaired Driving
This discussion will be led by state and national experts in toxicology, focused around challenges that relate to testing substances in biological samples. Implications for current testing practices on policymaking and suggested practices will be identified.
- Speakers:
- Jennifer Harmon, Assistant Director, Orange County Sheriff-Coroner, Orange County Crime Laboratory
- Amy Miles, Director of Forensic Toxicology, Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene
- Moderator: Elise Simonsen, Policy Analyst, Homeland Security and Public Safety, National Governors Association
Regional Reflection and Brainstorming Session
Participants will break out into small groups to reflect on the day’s panels, consider future objectives, and brainstorm ideas.
Day One Wrap Up and Report Out
One representative from each group will briefly report out about their group’s discussion and ideas.
Day 2: Friday, May 3
Breakfast
Lessons Learned From “High” Usage States
This will be a moderated discussion regarding lessons learned from the states that have grappled with medical and medicinal marijuana, as well as opioid epidemic and stimulants. While different issues, these states share a high user rate, thus impacting impaired driving.
- Speakers:
- Matthew Packard, Chief, Colorado State Patrol
- Darrin Grondel, Director, Washington Traffic Safety Commission
- Moderator: Kalyn Hill, Senior Policy Analyst, Homeland Security and Public Safety, National Governors Association
Autonomous Vehicles: Understanding the Technology and Identifying Impairment
Advanced Driver Assistance Systems and Highly Autonomous Vehicles can improve safety on the roads, but the introduction of impaired drivers into vehicles with this technology can lead to new issues. This session will review the technology on the roads today and on the horizon and discuss the difficulties law enforcement may face when trying to determine probable cause in impairment situations.
- Speakers:
- Jeffrey Michael, Visiting Scholar, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
- Timothy Brown, Director of Drugged Driving Research, National Advanced Driving Simulator, University of Iowa
- Kenneth Bragg, Senior Human Performance Investigator, Office of Highway Safety, National Transportation Safety Board
- Moderator: Garrett Eucalitto, Program Director; Environment, Energy and Transportation; National Governors Association
Rethinking Offending: Partner Views of Recidivism for Impaired Driving
In the wake of the opioid epidemic in the United States, public views of treatment approaches for substance use disorders have evolved to understand use disorders as a disease. In line with this joint public health and public safety approach to addressing use disorders, this session will focus on alcohol use disorder (AUD), combined with the growing role of other substance use disorders, in the context of recidivism and how lessons learned from the broader use disorder umbrella can be applied to drug impaired drivers.
- Speakers:
- Robert Anchondo, Judge, DWI Intervention and Treatment Program
- Mark Stodola, Probation Fellow, American Probation and Parole Association
- Moderator: Jeff Locke, Program Director, Homeland Security and Public Safety, National Governors Association
Wrap Up and Closing Remarks
