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PROGRAMS

United We Go supports a number of programs aimed to improve the transportation experience of District residents, visitors, and commuters, in the primary areas of education, enforcement, and post crash care and data. The programs listed below are funded and implemented, either in whole or in part, by the Highway Safety Office as part of the United We Go efforts.

 

For more information on any of these programs, please contact us!

Education

ASPIRA

Increasing Child Restraint and Booster Seat Use Among Hispanic Youth

ASPIRA is creating a culturally and linguistically appropriate traffic safety information campaign to promote the proper use and benefits of seat belts, child safety seats, and related laws among the Hispanic population in the District. This would be done through social media and a foot-on-ground campaign-style by targeting schools, churches, and other areas in which the Latino and Hispanic communities reside.

Children's National Medical Center

Pediatric Occupant Protection

Safe Kids DC addresses safety issues related to children with special health care needs and children who are inequitably impacted by motor vehicle collisions. Safe Kids DC is a safety program that works to educate children and families on unintentional injuries through the Children’s National Hospital with various qualified staff with experience in various health and interpersonal-related fields. 

The project encompasses the development and distribution of various resources, including videos, digital and physical resources, and toolkits that can be used independently and with professionals. A significant focus around this project is in Wards 2, 5, 7, and 8 of the District because they are priority engagement sites, and they are where most motor vehicle collisions occur in the District.

Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV)

Ignition Interlock Outreach

The DMV Ignition Interlock Device (IID) Program Outreach efforts is a multifaceted approach to engage and educate the public on preventative methods to avoid being enrolled in the program. The DMV produces educational materials, videos, social media engagement, billboards, text messaging, smartphone communications, and public awareness events on laws and policies that explain the IID, as well as alternative transportation promotion (impaired driving prevention). The program also focuses on the steps to enroll in the program once the individual is deemed “eligible”, the requirements for completion of the program, and related laws, and policies.

District Bridges

Engaging Business Leaders in Mobility Safety

District Bridges is developing holistic neighborhood-based safety initiatives through already existing public events to educate the public on how they can live a safe and healthy life here in the District. 

The program includes tailored courses and resources specifically aimed at businesses, equipping them with the knowledge and tools necessary to ensure the safety of their employees and patrons. Through Access Point, the already existing technical assistance platform aimed towards business owners, District Bridges will add to it by providing safety modules regarding delivery driver safety protocols, curbing overconsuming, and ensuring compliance with pedestrian safety regulations.

George Washington University

On-Campus Mobility Safety Coordinator

George Washington University has expanded the capacity for GWU’s Mobility Safety Program by hiring a full-time staff member who facilitates needs assessments, connects with stakeholders, and organizes initiatives and programs in and around the campus community. The on-campus coordinator works to enhance mobility safety among George Washington University (GWU) students by establishing a collaborative network involving universities, local advisory bodies, and officials in Washington, DC, focusing on factors like the urban landscape, substance use, and student transportation habits to reduce traffic-related injuries and deaths.

Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA)

Mobility Safety Summit

The DC Highway Safety Office (HSO) alongside the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) aims to host the District's inaugural oneday mobility safety summit on May 22, 2025, gathering approximately 150 traffic safety and mobility professionals to address issues impacting all road users, with a focus on pedestrians, cyclists, and scooter riders. GHSA, a nonprofit association providing leadership to State Highway Safety Offices (SHSOs), including the DC HSO, has a proven track record of facilitating successful safety summits and conferences nationwide with over 800 professionals attending their annual conference.

Highway Safety Office

Project Safe Child

Project Safe Child distributes free child safety seats and installation assistance to all District residents. Additionally, Child Passenger Safety Technician (CPST) trainings are held to increase the District's number of trained car seat professionals. Project Safe Child participates in many outreach efforts while conducting community events to promote unattended passenger safety and occupant protection for families. This collaborative program engages stakeholders, including law enforcement, healthcare providers, faith-based organizations, and community centers, to reach thousands of District residents with its life-saving message.

Impact Teen Drivers

Addressing Distracted Mobility Among Youth

Impact Teen Drivers (ITD) collaborates with the DC Highway Safety Office to engage, educate, and empower young people and their influencers with evidence-based programming and best practice resources from car seats to car keys and beyond. This comprehensive initiative targets elementary, middle, and high school students to foster a distraction-free mobility culture across Washington, DC.

ITD's evidence-based classroom and community programs, Parent-Teen workshops, and Train the Trainers sessions aim to empower elementary students, tweens, teens, their influencers, and community members to make informed decisions concerning driving, riding, walking, biking, or using any transportation mode within the diverse district. By integrating proven countermeasures such as Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) GRAD and emphasizing proper seat belt and car seat usage, safe speeds, and driving distraction-free, ITD aims to cultivate a culture of safety and responsibility on the roadways.

Lutheran University Washington Semester

Vision Zero Interns

Lutheran College Washington supports the work of Vision Zero by providing student interns to help identify and implement interventions leading to engaged young people in local mobility safety work that makes a tangible impact. The college brings in students passionate about public policy. The program will attract new traffic safety leaders with unique, individualized perspectives and skills in public policy, data analysis, behavioral economics, and psychology. The internship engages the students as subcontractors of Lutheran College, to overcome economic disadvantages, and engage all students, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

McAndrew Company

Paid Media Advertising

Description coming soon!

Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (MWCOG)

Street Smart Campaign

The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (MWCOG) leverages new and innovative countermeasures using their mass media education campaign to raise awareness of safe behaviors that individuals can take to reduce pedestrian and bicycle fatalities and injuries. The MWCOG has worked to protect vulnerable road users by raising awareness about pedestrian and bicycle safety through the vastly popular regional Street Smart campaign for over 20 years. 

The Street Smart campaign consists of two one-month waves of advertising and public relations, one in the fall and one in the spring, along with voluntary law enforcement activations by MWCOG’s partner agencies. The campaign also includes direct outreach, including Virtual Reality training events, to teach participants to watch for pedestrians. Many of these events are hosted in areas with high foot traffic, allowing Street Smart to reach a wide array of community members.

Southwest Business Improvement District

Move Like You Give A Duck

The “Move Like You Give A Duck” Roadway Safety Campaign created by Southwest Business Improvement District (SWBID) is a multi-faceted initiative aimed at enhancing roadway safety through community-based partnerships and innovative outreach strategies tailored to the unique neighborhoods of the District of Columbia. This pilot program emphasizes seatbelt safety, bicyclist and pedestrian safety, and moped safety, targeting vulnerable roadway users and specific user groups like food delivery drivers.

The campaign deploys a variety of approaches to engage the community, including hosting educational activities at SWBID events, partnering with artists to create impactful installations, distributing safety equipment during community gatherings, conducting targeted outreach to businesses and residential buildings, and utilizing traditional media channels for broad public messaging. These efforts aim to promote a culture of safety and responsibility on DC roadways, ultimately reducing crashes and enhancing the quality of life for all road users.

Washington Regional Alcohol Program (WRAP)

Engaging New Audiences in Impaired Driving Prevention

WRAP's multifaceted project aims to combat the rise in impaired driving incidents in the Washington metropolitan area. It utilizes strategies such as workplace outreach, the SoberRide® service, law enforcement awards, annual safety reports, a seasonal mobility safety fellow program, and partnerships to promote highway safety messages and provide alternatives to impaired driving at high-risk events and locations.

Enforcement

Alcoholic Beverage & Cannabis Administration (ABCA)

DC Double Check Program

The DC Double Check Program is focused on reducing youth and young adult access to and consumption of alcoholic beverages and cannabis. The goal is to increase road safety through three key pillars: youth and adult education, enforcement, and visibility. 

DC Police Memorial Foundation

Law Enforcement Liaison

The DC Police Foundation employs a full-time law enforcement liaison (LEL) who works with the HSO to promote national and state priorities through the District’s highway safety programs and encourage best practices in traffic enforcement. 

The District's Law Enforcement Liaison (LEL) program plays a pivotal role in promoting traffic safety priorities among law enforcement agencies. It emphasizes the importance of traffic law enforcement to achieve Vision Zero goals. Through enhanced communication, coordination, and training initiatives, the LEL program aims to strengthen enforcement efforts and ultimately reduce traffic-related injuries and fatalities in the District.

Department of For-Hire Vehicles (DFHV)

Protecting Vulnerable Road Users through For-Hire Vehicle Enforcement

Through this project, DFHV aims to enhance pedestrian and bicyclist safety at high-risk intersections, educate vehicle for-hire industry participants and the broader driving public on traffic safety, and track TNC activity in these areas. Through targeted enforcement, provision of “Toughpad” devices for data tracking, and officer training on de-escalation techniques, the initiative seeks to improve road safety, reduce confrontations, and foster public trust in law enforcement efforts.

Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection (DLCP)

Equitably Enforcing Micro-Mobility

The Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection (DLCP) works alongside multiple agencies to educate the public on traffic safety and license compliance information and exercise its authority to tow violators in mobile units and vending zones. The DLCP has strong and established relationships with law enforcement and transportation agencies, uniquely positioning them to address the safety challenges presented by scooter delivery services. 

The project aims to reduce traffic crashes, injuries, fatalities, and property damage through a comprehensive highway safety program. It focuses on two main initiatives: 1) enhancing education and enforcement for motor-driven cycles (mopeds) to improve compliance with traffic laws, and 2) regulating mobile vendors to ensure adherence to safety standards. These initiatives are supported by public education campaigns, enforcement actions including compliance checks and joint task forces, and outreach efforts such as traffic safety workshops and consumer complaint investigations. The goal is to mitigate risks associated with moped use and mobile vending, aiming for safer road conditions by implementing targeted strategies across various stakeholder groups.

Department of Public Works (DPW)

Removing Dangerous Drivers From Our Roads (Scofflaw)

The DC Department of Public Works (DPW) aims to address reckless driving issues in Washington, D.C. through a targeted pilot program focused on high-dollar scofflaw vehicles – those drivers who have repeatedly shown a disregard for the laws of our roadways. By deploying specialized teams to identify and tow vehicles with significant outstanding fines, DPW seeks to improve road safety and reduce congestion caused by these repeat offenders. With expertise in managing parking enforcement and municipal services, DPW is well-positioned to implement innovative solutions to address traffic violations and improve traffic flow. 

DPW's pilot program will deploy teams to target vehicles with over $3,000 in unpaid speeding and red light running fines, known as scofflaws, using grant funding to cover overtime costs for staff. This initiative aligns with DPW’s mission to enforce mobility regulations and enhance safety for residents and visitors alike and NHTSA’s commitment to high visibility enforcement. By strategically focusing on identified hotspot areas and collaborating with partner agencies, DPW aims to achieve measurable reductions in traffic violations and associated risks to public safety.

Metropolitan Police Department

Traditional Enforcement

The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) continues their work to enforce vulnerable road user safety, occupant protection, distracted driving laws, and impaired driving laws through overtime events at high hazard locations identified by the HSO and MPD sources. The MPD is the primary law enforcement agency for the District of Columbia and has over 100 years of combined traffic safety law enforcement experience. 

The project’s goal is to increase compliance with traffic safety laws in an effort to keep all road users safe. Additionally, MPD participates in NHTSA mobilizations such as Click It or Ticket and If You Feel Different, You Drive Different.

Office of the Attorney General (OAG)

DUI + Aggressive Driving Prosecutors

The Office of the Attorney General continues to uphold its responsibility of prosecuting criminal traffic offenses by employing DUI Prosecutors and one Aggressive Driving Prosecutor. The DC Office of the Attorney General (DCOAG) possesses extensive experience and success in prosecuting DUI-related and Aggressive Driving offenses, collaborating with law enforcement agencies, and implementing improvements in policies and procedures to ensure successful prosecutions. 

These prosecutors play a crucial role in enforcing traffic laws and reducing impaired-related and aggressive incidents through intra-office support and specialized training and the litigation of complex cases. It ultimately contributes to increased public safety on District roadways.

Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME)

Toxicological Investigations of Suspected Impaired Drivers

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) aims to reduce impaired driving injuries and fatalities in Washington D.C. by leveraging its forensic toxicology laboratory. The Washington, DC Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) toxicology laboratory, the only one in the District, boasts state-of-the-art facilities and a decade-long partnership with the DC Department of Transportation, processing over 2,000 impaired driving specimens and maintaining accreditation from reputable bodies. 

By conducting testing, research, and updating processes, OCME supports enforcement and legislative efforts while decreasing wait times for law enforcement and attorneys interacting with the laboratory. With over a decade of partnership with the DC Department of Transportation and accreditation from reputable bodies, OCME is well-equipped to provide forensically defensible casework and expert consultation on drug and alcohol-impaired driving.

Post Crash Care + Data

Department of Health (DOH)

Enhancing Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety Through Trauma Data Analysis

The Department of Health's initiative aims to enhance pedestrian and bicycle safety by integrating EMS and trauma records with data analytics tools to improve post-crash care, identifying high-risk roadway segments through traffic and injury data analysis, and conducting grassroots data collection and community engagement efforts to inform targeted safety interventions. 

DC Health Communications will utilize community insights to develop tailored social marketing campaigns aimed at promoting safe and sustainable active transportation, with ongoing evaluation ensuring the effectiveness of these initiatives in reducing injuries and enhancing public health outcomes.

Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV)

Form 3340 Automation

The Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) is leveraging new technology to automate the process of form DMV-3340 to be distributed to arrestees as required by law. 

Form DMV-3340 is a form that is provided to arrestees who refuse to provide blood, breath, or urine sample for testing when pulled over on suspicions of DUI. The arrestee must be both served with the DMV-3340 and afforded an opportunity to sign that he or she was served with a copy. The original copy is then sent to the DMV to suspend the arrestee’s driver operating privileges in the District of Columbia. By automating the process, we can ensure full accountability of those motorists who have been arrested.

Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV)

Out-of-State Convictions Processing

The DMV works to enter convictions and  reduce the backlog of convictions entry by requesting additional hours for the DMV’s staff to enter convictions into the DESTINY system via overtime. 

Data entry support allows for the timely entry of convictions and enables the DMV to decrease the existing backlog of out of state convictions. The DESTINY system maintains an electronic record of driver’s traffic record which is then shared with other agencies such as the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and the courts to improve road safety through enforcement.

George Washington University: School of Medicine

Understanding the Biopsychosocial Needs of Mobility Safety

George Washington University seeks to understand the bio-psychosocial needs and the healthcare burden of patients who present to the emergency department (ED) for evaluation after a roadway safety incident through surveys and intensive reviews. Participants who enter the GWU ED for a roadway incident involving a car are asked questions that will screen candidates for social determinants of health needs adapted from a validated screening tool. Furthermore, they are asked about behavior and safety mechanisms on their modality of transport which will allow the GWU research team to analyze the patient's history and look for meaningful trends.

Governors Highway Safety Association

Traffic Records Coordinating Committee

GHSA supports the Traffic Records Coordinating Committee by subcontracting a consultant to create the next version of the TRCC’s Strategic Plan.

National Association of State EMS Officials (NASEMSO)

Post Crash Care Liaison

Through the provision of a full-time Post-Crash Care Liaison to the District of Columbia Highway Safety Office (HSO), the National Association of State EMS Officials (NASEMSO) assists its members in the District of Columbia and the area post-crash care (i.e., EMS and trauma system) communities, as well as its highway safety constituents with subject matter expertise and a new foundation for progress. 

This technical assistance intends to: increase and strengthen the District's EMS and trauma system efforts focused on priority planning and implementation of traffic safety programs; increase awareness and involvement of state EMS offices and EMS and trauma system providers in the District's priority programs; improve community engagement of (and via) the EMS and trauma systems; and to generally enhance the dialogue between highway safety and the post-crash care system.

Office of Unified Communication (OUC)

911 Traffic Safety Training

To address the issue of callers struggling to identify their location to 9-1-1 call takers, the OUC provides 9-1-1 operations staff with increased training and suport. The Office of Unified Communications (OUC) is responsible for handling both emergency and non-emergency calls through the 911 and 311 systems, which is essential to enforcing laws in the District of Columbia and ensuring the safety of its citizens and visitors. 

The current challenges in 9-1-1 location accuracy on roadways have led to significant delays in dispatching emergency services for traffic crashes, increasing the risk to individuals involved. To address this, the OUC is implementing a comprehensive training program to empower 9-1-1 operations staff with enhanced GIS and CAD skills, aiming to improve location accuracy, minimize response delays, and ultimately save lives.

Ohio State University

Collegiate Impaired Mobility Interventions

OSU addresses impaired driving and micromobility usage among college students in Washington D.C. They will continue to manage a Networked Improvement Community (NIC) among D.C. colleges to share knowledge, plan interventions, produce environmental scans, and measure their impact on reducing impaired driving incidents. Additionally, OSU will provide training and technical assistance to campuses, collaborate with community partners, and share findings with relevant stakeholders to support the D.C. Highway Safety Office's goals of reducing alcohol-impaired driver fatalities and injuries.

University of Connecticut: School of Public Policy

Traffic Stop Data Collection and Analysis

At its core, this project aims to address and mitigate racial biases in traffic enforcement by employing data-driven decision-making and collaborative interventions with law enforcement, ultimately striving to enhance community trust and safety while reducing disparities in policing practices and outcomes. The University of Connecticut is a nonpartisan university-based organization that has worked with law enforcement to implement a more streamlined and adaptable system that minimizes ongoing resource usage. 

University of Maryland: School of Medicine

Annual Seat Belt Survey

An observational seat belt survey is held annually in Washington, DC to evaluate compliance with seat belt laws. The survey utilizes trained observers and existing roadway sites to collect data for federal certification from the NHTSA. Data points and trends identified through this survey are used to inform future occupant protection initiatives and interventions.

University of Virginia: Darden School of Business

Data-Driven Streets Data Analysis

The University of Virginia (UVA) is leveraging data to make the streets of DC safer for all by utilizing crash reports, traffic camera data, and other information to understand where crashes happen and why. By leveraging various datasets and analytical techniques, UVA seeks to provide a more accurate depiction of traffic incidents, particularly in underserved areas, and to support initiatives such as traffic camera impact assessments, bike lane analyses, and identification of unsafe routes for students.

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