The Office of Highway Safety is pleased to announce an awards luncheon as part of the Highway Safety Conference this year. The conference will be held November 5-7, 2013, at the Atlantic Sands Hotel in Rehoboth Beach, with the awards announced during lunch on November 6th.

There will be two awards per county for each of the following award categories. Descriptions of each award are provided below. Award categories include:

• IMPAIRED DRIVING
• OCCUPANT PROTECTION
• CELL PHONE VIOLATIONS
• AGGRESSIVE DRIVING VIOLATIONS

In addition, there will be one Traffic Safety Star award issued for each county.

All agencies are encouraged to nominate members of your police agency for their traffic safety achievements during 2012. A nomination form is included on this webpage. Please complete the form and return it to OHS by close of business July 19, 2013. Nomination forms can be faxed to 302-739-5995 or emailed to Lisa.Shaw@state.de.us. If you have any questions, please call Lisa Shaw at 302-744-2746. Specific criteria for each award is listed below.

IMPAIRED DRIVING AWARD
The Impaired Driving Award is intended to recognize an officer for his/her contributions in reducing the incidence of impaired driving on Delaware roadways. Please consider officers for this award if he/she:

• Is considered a leader by his/her peers when it comes to impaired driving enforcement;
• Attends DMV hearings; . Secures impaired driving convictions;
• Attends impaired driving training/updates;
• Signs up for overtime impaired driving patrols; and
• Consistently enforces the state's impaired driving laws

OCCUPANT PROTECTION AWARD
The Occupant Protection Award is intended to recognize an officer for his/her contributions to efforts to increase the state's seat belt use and child restraint use rates and decreasing the incidence of unbelted fatalities on Delaware roadways. Please use the following criteria when selecting an officer for this award:

• Is considered a leader by his/her peers when it comes to occupant protection enforcement;
• Signs up for overtime occupant protection patrols;
• Secures occupant protection violation convictions;
• Participates in child passenger safety technician training and/or assists with the installation of car seats for families;
• Consistently enforces the state's occupant protection laws

CELL PHONE CITATION AWARD
The Cell Phone Citation Award is intended to recognize an officer for his/her efforts to reduce the use of hand-held cell phones by motorists and ultimately reduce the incidence of crashes related to cell phone use. Please consider the following criteria when selecting an officer to nominate for a cell phone citation award:

• Is considered a leader by his/her peers when it comes to distracted driving enforcement;
• Secures convictions once cell phone law violations are written;
• Participates in overtime opportunities to enforce the cell phone law; and
• Consistently enforces the state's cell phone law

AGGRESSIVE DRIVING AWARD
The Aggressive Driving Award was created to recognize an officer for his/her efforts to reduce crashes occurring as a result of speeding, failure to yield, running red lights, and crossing the center line. Please use the following criteria when selecting an officer for this award:

• Is considered a leader by his/her peers when it comes to aggressive driving enforcement;
• Secures convictions for aggressive driving tickets written;
• Participates in aggressive driving overtime opportunities; and
• Consistently enforces the state's aggressive driving laws

TRAFFIC SAFETY STAR AWARD
Officers should be nominated for this award if they are a top traffic safety performer in your agency. In fact, did the same name come to mind for each of the above awards? If so, that's your agency's traffic safety star! This officer actively pursues traffic violators, regularly signs up for overtime traffic safety patrols, and makes a sincere effort to keep our roadways safe. This officer is someone other officers look to for guidance and advice. Consideration should be given to those officers who voluntarily take leadership roles related to the traffic safety training needs of your agency.