Able to explain complicated processes to a customer who is confused or angry before a conversation begins. Sounds like it may just be the work a superhero is made of. But in reality, it is the exciting challenge the team in the Iowa Department of Transportation’s Driver & Identity Service’s Information Center takes on every day in many different ways.
Do you feel lucky? Luck may be the only thing you’ll have going for you if you’re in a crash and not wearing a seat belt since 75 percent of people who are ejected during a crash don’t survive.
So maybe you buckle up with others in the car, but you think that it’s a personal decision whether or not to click that buckle when you are by yourself. Debris on the road, actions of another driver, an animal running in front of you or a multitude of other reasons can cause you to swerve or lose control.
If there’s nothing holding you back, you could find yourself bouncing around your vehicle, and maybe even ripped from behind the wheel. The ripple effects of that crash go far beyond you as the driver.
Sometimes you need to step out of your comfort zone. But that’s a dangerous place to be if you’re in law enforcement. Preparing our law enforcement motor vehicle investigators for any difficult situation is the purpose of a targeted training program developed in collaboration with Iowa Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Investigation & Identity Protection and Office of Strategic Communications and Hawkeye Community College.
Mike Athey, director of the Iowa DOT’s Bureau of Investigation & Identity Protection, said, “I have no greater responsibility than ensuring the safe return home for each and every investigator at the end of a shift. The firearms training that is typically conducted twice per year focuses on proficiency upon a stationary target. Although this type of training is mandated and customary in law enforcement, it doesn’t put in perspective the complexity of a situation one may find him or herself in.”
