Sherburne County Safe Roads Coalition

Current Projects

The Sherburne County Safe Roads Coalition has various efforts underway to inform our community about traffic safety initiatives.  Please take a moment to review and participate where able.

Video Contest

Sherburne County Safe Roads Coalition will be holding its 2nd annual video contest for high school students. Last year's winning video was submitted by students from Princeton High School's SADD Chapter. The students also won the statewide Toward Zero Deaths (TZD) Emerging Leader Award for their video. 

What to Submit: A 30 - 60 second original video on the dangers of speeding, no seat belt use, and/or distracted driving. These are 3 of the 4 leading factors of fatal crashes in Minnesota. 

Who Can Submit: Any individual or group currently enrolled in high school at a participating district. 

Deadline: Submissions and waivers must be received by Feb. 28, 2023 to be eligible. Video submissions can be emailed directly to Geoffrey.Dowty@co.sherburne.mn.us 

Prizes: Various businesses and organizations continue to support our youth and traffic safety initiatives. Below is a sample of prizes that are available to be distributed for winning video(s). 

Contest Rules

1. Students’ entries will be a 30-60 second video showing the dangers of speeding, no seat belt use, or distracted driving.

2. Any individual or group currently enrolled in high school at a participating district is eligible to enter.

3. Each submission must be authentic, originally created by the entrant(s), and allowed to be used by the Sherburne County TZD Safe Roads Coalition.

4. Sponsor reserves the right to reject any submission that Sponsor, in its sole discretion, deems obscene, offensive, inappropriate, objectionable, or in bad taste, or that infringes on any third party’s intellectual property rights.

5. Maximum of one (1) entry per person or group. Sponsor will not verify receipt of entries. Entries become property of the Sponsor. Sponsor is not responsible for incomplete, lost, late, misdirected, incomprehensible, illegible, or damaged entries.

6. Entries can be submitted via email to geoffrey.dowty@co.sherburne.mn.us. All entrant(s) will need to sign a waiver before their video will be eligible to win. The waiver can be found here.

7. The material must be the original work of the person(s) submitting the video. The top submissions will be selected by the Safe Roads Coalition and will receive cash, prizes, and gift cards donated from area businesses. Entrant(s) understand that their material will be reproduced and used by public service agencies for promotion and distribution and the creator of the video agrees to the use. With the permission of the top submitter (and/or their guardian as applicable), a press release will be promulgated identifying the student(s) and highlighting their work.

Last year's winning entry was from Princeton Public Schools. Click on the photo below to view the video.

What is the Toward Zero Deaths Program?

Minnesota Toward Zero Deaths (TZD) is the state’s cornerstone traffic safety program since 2003, employing an interdisciplinary approach to reducing traffic crashes, injuries, and deaths on Minnesota roads. This approach involves five different stakeholder groups, affectionately known as the five E’s, working together to drive Minnesota traffic deaths and serious injuries down to zero. These include:

Education

Changing driver behavior is the focus of traffic safety education efforts. It is not enough for drivers to understand the "rules of the road." Drivers must be motivated to change their driving habits.

Emergency Medical & Trauma Services

The goal of the Toward Zero Deaths program is to reduce not just crashes, but total road injuries and fatalities. That means that when a crash does occur, fast, efficient, and coordinated emergency response is critical.

Enforcement

Ensuring compliance with traffic laws is a major component in changing driver behavior and reducing unsafe driving practices.

Engineering

Modifying or reconstructing roadways can be challenging and time consuming. Careful evaluation of road characteristics is the key to a solid investment in public safety.

Everyone

Everyone has a part in driving the total fatalities down to zero.  We each make choices every day that can affect not only our lives, but those around us, while utilizing our roadways and beyond. 

Who We Are

The Sherburne County Safe Roads Coalition program works to increase local involvement in traffic safety issues in our community. The Sherburne County Sheriff’s Office has formed a TZD coalition by partnering with others to address issues in our community through a multifaceted approach. The Sherburne County Safe Roads Coalition is currently funded by a grant from the Department of Public Safety to help offset costs associated with its efforts.

How Can You Participate?

Attend Our Meetings

The Coalition typically meets the second Wednesday of the month in the Sherburne County Sheriff’s Office Emergency Operations Center (EOC) at the Sherburne County Government Center in Elk River from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.  

Prior Meeting Minutes

2019
Feb. 13 meeting
March 13 meeting
April 10 meeting
June 12 meeting
Sept. 11 meeting
Nov. 13 meeting
Dec. 11 meeting
2020
March 11 meeting
June 10 meeting
Sept. 9 meeting
2021
Feb. 10 meeting
Nov. 2 meeting
Dec. 15 meeting
2022
Feb. 23 meeting

Join Our Listserve

Not able to make our meeting, but still interested in learning about coalition activities, potential opportunities to volunteer, or simply to be more informed and to promote traffic safety information among your network of friends, family, and coworkers? Contact Deputy Geoffrey Dowty at Geoffrey.Dowty@co.sherburne.mn.us to be added to the email distribution list.

Share the Message

Do you post on social media, personally and/or professionally?  Do you have a bulletin board, an electronic messaging board, or other message sharing opportunity via a newsletter or other outreach that can be utilized to promote safe driving practices among our residents, businesses, and visitors to Sherburne County? By joining our email distribution list, you will have access to information generated by the Department of Public Safety and other organizations or members that can be shared with your connections to promote our TZD efforts and successes.
Remember That 5th E? Yes, That is You!!!
Whether you formally join the coalition by attending meetings or joining our list serve, technically, you are already a member of the movement of our Toward Zero Deaths journey.  Thank you for taking our roadways seriously and for making efforts to improve our traffic safety culture one day at a time.

Information about the Toward Zero Deaths program.