Keynote

Wednesday | September 13, 2023

Keynote Luncheon

11:30 PM – 1:00 PM

Talking Our Walk: How Traffic Safety Culture Starts With Us

Presenter: Dr. Tara Goddard, Texas A&M University

Dr. Tara Goddard is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning at Texas A&M University. After earning a master’s degree in Civil Engineering from the University of California, Davis, she worked as an Associate Transportation Planner for the City of Sacramento and then served 2007-2011 as the Bicycle/Pedestrian Program Coordinator for the City of Davis. Realizing she was a research geek at heart, Dr. Goddard returned to school and earned her PhD in Urban Studies at Portland State University. She joined the faculty of Texas A&M in 2017, where her research focuses on transportation safety, particularly the interactions of transportation culture, behavior, and infrastructure on the experiences and safety outcomes for people who walk and wheel.

Walking Our Talk: How Traffic Safety Culture Starts with Us

We are all committed to increasing roadway safety and reducing serious injuries and fatalities, but progress can seem frustratingly and even mysteriously slow. What role might traffic safety culture play in that, and what can we do to improve it? What even IS traffic safety culture? What does it look like within our agencies? Are we holding ourselves to the same standards we want to see out on our streets? Dr. Goddard will share her views on traffic safety culture as a transportation researcher and former practitioner, and push all of us to reflect on how everything from our guidance documents and internal communications to our daily behavior helps or hinders our progress on our Vision Zero goals.