Linden court wins third straight safety award

Submitted by Casscounty1 on
By Bobby Horn Jr.
 
LINDEN—Can you say “Three-Peat!”
For the third year in a row the Linden Municipal Court, under the direction of Judge Barbara McMillon, has won a Municipal Traffic Safety Initiative Award.
Linden was one of seven cities with a population less than 30,000, to be recognized statewide this year. McMillon said that she was especially proud of the award in that Linden was competing against cities with much larger populations.
According to the Texas Municipal Courts Education Center, the safety award is designed to recognize municipal courts that have demonstrated outstanding contributions  to traffic safety and eliminating impaired driving in their respective  communities. 
Applicants were judged on their activities relating to increasing traffic safety while decreasing impaired driving traffic crashes, traffic fatalities, juvenile DUI, child safety seat offenses, red light running, and other traffic-related offenses.
McMillon said that she, and her staff of Terri Price and Beverly Strickland, are engaged in a number of projects throughout the year which promote traffic safety.
 “The office continues to provide the public service corner in the office foyer with written materials and pamphlets and a community chest that is filled with donated prizes bringing awareness to texting and driving and underage drinking,” McMillon said. 
Among the other projects this past year the court participated in was the National Night Out. The court is also an active participate in the Shattered Dreams program, which demonstrates a possible outcome to destructive decisions. McMillon is also an active participant in the Northeast Texas Traffic Safety Coalition.
“The coalition sponsors education programs and public safety videos to bring awareness to texting and driving, child seat usage, adult passenger safety, impaired driving and underage drinking awareness,” McMillon added.
She said the biggest traffic safety issues she sees on a day to day basis is excessive speed, failure to wear seatbelts and driver inattention.  “When you mix all three of these factors together, it’s going to be bad.”
One area in which McMillon said she was especially proud is a pilot program that she created with TxDOT Traffic Safety Specialist Irene Webster “to address concerns and trends among teenagers in Cass County.”
The pair has organized a “Teen Coalition” comprised of two students from each school district in Cass County who participate in a “Safe Traffic Study Program.”
McMillon said the teens meet at the TxDOT facility in Atlanta. In these meetings they discuss current trends with teen drivers, trends in mainstream popularity between teen acceptance in their peer groups, preventative measures to keep teens safe and ideas for traffic safety programs.
“The Teen Coalition meets monthly and has been viewed as a very positive asset for our schools and communities,” McMillon said.
McMillon and Price attended a Texas Municipal Courts Education Center Safety Conference March 20-22 in Dallas, where they received the award. During the conference McMillon said that she was approached by several other judges who were interested in replicating her Teen Coalition in their own jurisdictions.
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