ATSSA Signal November/December 2017

37 The Signal | Nov/Dec 2017 Safer Roads Save Lives Chapter News Arizona Chapter The Arizona ATSSA chapter met at the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) in Phoenix, Arizona on Sept. 12. A total of 25 people were in attendance, including eight public agency officials from ADOT, Maricopa Department of Transportation, and the City of Mesa. Guest speaker, Jorge Franco, Jr., attorney at Jennings, Haug and Cunningham, spoke to the chapter about risk management. Franco provided tips and information about what to do when accidents happen on a job. He said it’s important for companies to set a protocol and ensure employees are informed to take appropriate action in the event of an accident. The City of Mesa is considering requiring ATSSA’s Traffic Control Technician certification on jobs in future, and has asked for member feedback on what type of conditions need to be considered that would affect their businesses. With the release of their new traffic control manual this fall, the City of Mesa will also begin requiring certification for ATSSA’s Traffic Control Design Specialist course. The City will provide a reasonable time period for all traffic control companies to meet this requirement. The Chapter has awarded two scholarships to Pima County for their engineers to attend ATSSA’s 2018 Convention and Expo, from Jan. 26 to 28 in San Antonio, Texas. Tim Gibson was presented with a plaque to thank him for his two years of service as president for the Arizona-ATSSA Chapter. The next meeting will be held on Dec. 12, 2017 in Phoenix, Arizona.   Tim Gibson, 3M – Traffic Safety Systems, awarded outgoing president’s plaque to thank him for his service. Left to right: Ron Jones, chapter president, Tim Gibson, immediate past president and Jennifer Hedge, chapter liaison. Carolinas Chapter Carolinas-ATSSA Chapter members and others traveled to Asheville, North Carolina this year in early October for their annual meeting and events. On Oct. 4, a handful of brave souls (seven to be exact) received appropriate safety training before they went on a whitewater rafting adventure. Simultaneously, another 12 people drove to the golf course for a round of 18 at the Grove Park Inn. Speaking of brave, the golfers had to contend with a black bear on one of the holes—an overbearing situation that golfers don’t usually contend with but all golfers returned to the clubhouse safely. Individual winners were as follows included Rick Beck, of BC Engineering, who won Longest Drive and Chris Mahar, of Carolinas Traffic Devices, who won Closest to the Pin. The first-place team that won the event by one stroke included Jeff Hilliard and Dan Lorine of Wanco, Jonathon Stott, of Pride Baker Paint, and Chris Mahar, of Carolinas Traffic Devices. Later that evening, the chapter hosted a well-attended reception with the help of sponsors. During the reception, a special raffle was held to raise money for The Foundation. The Carolinas “annual” chapter meeting took place the following day with a total of 52 people present, which included seven transportation department representatives. The chapter adopted new bylaws, created a snow-plowable pavement markings task force, and heard updates from both North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) and South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) officials. Because of the potential to remove long-life markings from future contracts in North Carolina, the chapter decided that they would draft a letter in conjunction with ATSSA, citing safety concerns from removing such markings. The Manual for Accessing Safety Hardware was discussed and the NCDOT unveiled new plans to address the deadlines and specified that NCHRP 350-tested Category 1 and 2 devices would be allowed Continues on page 38> Carolinas-ATSSA Chapter members went whitewater rafting in early October in Asheville, North Carolina. Other members opted to play golf at the Grove Park Inn course.