2014 Centennial Road Safety

 

TAC thanks the following partner of the
TAC 2014 Centennial Road Safety Award for their support. 

Summary

The TAC Centennial Road Safety Awards provide an opportunity to recognize outstanding contributions to road safety over the past 100 years. Contributions bringing transformational and long-term improvements to road safety, as well as milestones of major progress in the field of road safety in Canada will be recognized.

Four categories of awards, which may be given posthumously, reflect distinct avenues of contributions: academic research; private sector, public sector, and outstanding road safety career. The first three categories are open to individuals or organizations, while the career award is open only to individuals. Nominations for each award should clearly articulate how the contributor brought about historic changes to the nature of road safety in Canada. Awards will be presented at the Monday Lunch during the 2014 TAC Conference & Exhibition in Montreal, QC.

Subject Area and Award Eligibility

The subject area and award eligibility is defined below for each of the four awards:

  • TAC Academic Research Centennial Road Safety Award
    Research institutions (or individuals in these research groups) who have worked in road safety and made historic contributions to the field are eligible. As long as road safety improvements are specific and definable, eligible researchers may also work in other adjunct disciplines including, but not limited to, infrastructure engineering, vehicle design, road user behaviour, the regulatory environment, or statistical analysis.
  • TAC Private Sector Centennial Road Safety Award
    Private companies (or individuals in these companies) operating in Canada whose work in road safety has made historic contributions to the field are eligible. The award is not limited to a single type of company; nominees may come from consulting firms, construction companies, commercial vehicle operators, vehicle or vehicle equipment manufacturers, infrastructure product manufacturers, or insurance companies.
  • TAC Public Sector Centennial Road Safety Award
    Government agencies (or individuals in these agencies) working at the federal, provincial/territorial, or municipal levels whose work in road safety has made historic contributions to the field are eligible. Any type of government agency or agency employee that has worked in road safety may be nominated – including but not limited to infrastructure providers, enforcement services, education/awareness agencies, or regulatory agencies.
  • TAC Outstanding Career Centennial Road Safety Award
    Individuals who have devoted a substantial portion of their career to road safety work and who made historic contributions to the field are eligible. The individual’s work may have spanned across academic, private sector, and public sector domains or it may have focused on one of these domains exclusively.

Recent contributions for which it is too early to judge if a historic contribution to the field has been made are not eligible. However, if a recent contribution is innovative and has a significant, quantified realized or anticipated road safety benefit, it may be eligible for the annual TAC Road Safety Engineering Award. 

Nomination Requirements

A representative of any TAC member may make a nomination by submitting a one-page completed nomination abstract by email to Sarah Wells at swells@tac-atc.ca  by January 27, 2014, using the abstract template.

This abstract is the first step of the two-step submission process. The abstract should demonstrate how the full submission would address the 2014 TAC Centennial Road Safety Award evaluation criteria as outlined below.

If the nominee’s abstract is approved, the nominating individual will be contacted by February 18 and invited to make a full submission to TAC prior to 15:00 EST on March 18, 2014.

The full submission should be no longer than ten (10) pages of text on 8.5" x 11" sheets with size 12 font.  Supporting documents such as photos and diagrams are not to be included in the ten-page limit and could be attached as an appendix. 

Submissions should:

  • indicate the category of contribution (academic, public, private, or career)
  • outline the contribution or series of contributions made to the field of road safety;
  • describe how the contribution(s) demonstrated innovation;
  • describe the impact of the contribution(s) in terms of national dissemination and adoption (recognizing international applications as well), and/or in terms of realized road safety improvements, and/or in terms of life-altering societal-level impacts.

The March 18 submission must consist of an electronic file in PDF format.  The full submission, with appendices if applicable, should be e-mailed to:

Sarah Wells
TAC Program Manager 
E-mail: swells@tac-atc.ca

Review Procedures and Evaluation Criteria

Submissions will be reviewed and judged by an Evaluation Panel selected by TAC's Road Safety Standing Committee (RSSC).

Nominations will be judged according to the two criteria described below. Submissions that clearly demonstrate that a contribution succeeds under each criterion will receive top marks.

1) Degree of Impact (70 Points)

Contributions that made a historic or transformational impact on the field of road safety will receive top marks. Impact will be judged by changes in practice (including the dissemination and adoption of the contribution nationally or internationally) changes in outcomes (quantifiable reductions in road fatalities and injuries resulting from the contribution), widespread societal change, or any combination thereof.  For example, for the academic award, the degree of impact judging may focus on the dissemination and adoption of a new technique or idea, while for the public sector award, the degree of impact judging may focus on changes in outcomes linked to actual implemented projects or policies.

2) Degree of Innovation (30 Points)

Innovation in this case is national in scope and should be viewed through a "cross-Canada" lens. The degree of innovation shown in the contribution will be used as the basis for assessment. This may apply to anything from innovative technological advancements, innovative processes, innovative public consultation, innovative financing and project delivery, innovative engineering design practices or standards, or innovative leadership in collaboration.

Deadlines

  • Abstracts to be submitted to TAC: January 27
  • Review Panel to complete screening of abstracts: February 14
  • Screening results to be communicated to nominees: February 18
  • Full submissions to be delivered to TAC: March 18 (prior to 15:00  EST)
  • Results to be communicated to nominees: June 27

Award Presentation

The awards may be given based on the recommendation of the RSSC Evaluation Panel and endorsement by the Chief Engineers’ Council. The 2014 TAC Centennial Road Safety Awards will be presented at the Monday Lunch, September 29, 2014, during the TAC Conference & Exhibition in Montreal, QC.