Screenshot from the Idaho Transportation Department’s St. Patrick’s Day-themed ad discouraging impaired driving.The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) presented the Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) with two communications awards during the association’s recent annual meeting.
AASHTO’s Subcommittee on Transportation Communications (TransComm) presented the awards as part the Skills Contest, an opportunity each year for the association to recognize “outstanding communications work” from departments of transportation throughout the U.S.
ITD won first place in the Writing category for the bylined article “Ice Bath: Graves’ River Rescue”. The article covered ITD employee Dana Graves’ efforts in spearheading a rescue of two people who had driven into the Lochsa River during “low visibility and slick-road conditions” in November of last year.
The department received an Honorable Mention award in the Advertising category for its St. Patrick’s Day-themed ad aimed at stopping impaired driving. The department says impaired driving accounted for roughly 1,400 crashes and more than 70 deaths on Idaho roads last year, with a “societal economic cost” of nearly $606 million.
