Message Monday - Friends don't text friends who are driving

January 30, 2017

Love it or hate it, we live in a 24/7 connected world because of our phones. Because we’re used to being in constant contact, not responding quickly to a text can be seen as a social snub, when in reality, it could just be that someone is practicing safe habits by waiting to respond until they are out of the driver’s seat.

You know you shouldn’t be texting while you’re driving, but how often do you think about what someone else might be doing as you’re are texting them?

Personnel Updates for Dec. 30, 2016 – Jan. 12, 2017

January 23, 2017

Information provided by the Office of Employee Services

Message Monday - crashes are not accidents

January 23, 2017

Crash. Accident. These two words mean the same thing, right? Not necessarily. The word “accident” gives the impression that whatever happened was unavoidable. In every crash, there is a cause, and overwhelmingly that cause can be traced back to the behavior of a driver - a whopping 94 percent of the time according to a recent study.  The word “crash” removes the idea that these types of incidents are unavoidable.

Iowa in Motion 2045 - Data analysis is in line with public comments on long-range planning

January 20, 2017

As 2017 kicks off, the Iowa Transportation Commission and Iowa Department of Transportation staff are moving into the final phase of the draft long-range transportation plan: Iowa in Motion 2045. Overall, there have been very few surprises in the data analysis and public input segments related to the planning effort.

“That’s a good thing,” said Garrett Pedersen, with the Iowa DOT’s Office of Systems Planning. “The public’s expectations and the data collected on the needs of our transportation system are matching up with the ideas the Iowa Transportation Commission and Iowa DOT staff are formulating into a plan.”

Iowa DOT to introduce new wellness calendar

January 19, 2017

As employees of the Iowa Department of Transportation, we’ve all been through training dealing with safety both on and off the job, but do we also know what it means to be well?

This month Iowa DOT employees will see a change to the annual safety calendar from a pure safety focus to a publication dedicated to employee wellness.

So what exactly is wellness? Wellness is a mix of physical, emotional, mental, financial, and environmental wellbeing.

Since the introduction of the Iowa Department of Transportation University (DOTU), the Iowa DOT Health and Safety Team decided safety information and training would be best utilized in DOTU online courses instead of a calendar. This shift opened up an opportunity to highlight wellness on the calendar.

Message Monday- Drinking & Driving is like Pop Rocks & cola

January 16, 2017

There are some things that just don’t go together. At one time, a popular urban legend was that if you eat pop rocks candy and then drink cola, you would die. According to the legend, the combination had proven lethal to poor Mikey, the spokeskid for Life cereal.

While we now know combining pop rocks and cola won’t kill you, there is a mountain of data that shows combining alcohol and then driving just might. Of the 403 deaths on Iowa’s roadways last year, more than 30 percent involved an impaired driver.