Are you ready for Monsoon season?

It starts this Sunday and brings with it the increased chance of high winds, blowing dust and other conditions that can really impact your drive.

Knowing what to do when a dust storm hits is vital, which is why we want to again remind everyone of our “Pull Aside, Stay Alive” message.

The importance of that message is certainly apparent in the powerful video above, in which you’ll hear a first-hand account of just how quickly conditions can change when a dust storm is on the horizon.

We want to make sure you’re prepared, so we invite you to review these safety tips (you can also find them on PullAsideStayAlive.org):

• Avoid driving into or through a dust storm.
• Do not wait until poor visibility makes it difficult to safely pull off the roadway -- do it as soon as possible. Completely exit the highway if you can.
• If you encounter a dust storm, check traffic immediately around your vehicle (front, back and to the side) and begin slowing down.
• Do not stop in a travel lane or in the emergency lane; look for a safe place to pull completely off the paved portion of the roadway.
• Stop the vehicle in a position ensuring it is a safe distance from the main roadway and away from where other vehicles may travel.
• Turn off all vehicle lights, including your emergency flashers.
• Set your emergency brake and take your foot off the brake.
• Stay in the vehicle with your seatbelts buckled and wait for the storm to pass.
• Drivers of high-profile vehicles should be especially aware of changing weather conditions and travel at reduced speeds.

DPS Officer Carrick Cook says it best in the video above...

“It’s decisions to go into dust storms that cause those types of crashes and we’re trying to encourage motorists to not even enter it – don’t even run the risk,” he says. “People that continue to go through a dust storm, knowing that it’s there, are recklessly doing that. Zero visibility is the worst-case scenario. There’s no reasonable speed, when you can’t see.”

For more information on dust storms, please visit PullAsideStayAlive.org and check out some of our previous blog posts. We also want to invite you to participate in our dust storm online survey.

As always, drivers planning trips are urged to monitor travel conditions by calling 511, or by visiting www.az511.gov. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

Stay safe and remember to Pull Aside, Stay Alive!

If you’ve got 17 syllables to spare, we want to hear from you because #HaboobHaiku is back!

This is the one and only contest (as far as we know) to mix an ancient form of poetry with dust storm safety – the results are always entertaining and educational.

In its third year now, the #HaboobHaiku challenge is designed to reinforce ADOT’s public safety message urging drivers to avoid driving into or through a dust storm. Drivers are instead encouraged to pull off the roadway and wait out a dust storm, rather than trying to drive with reduced or zero visibility (see more driving tips here).

You can read in detail why we #HaboobHaiku in this blog post from last year and you’ll see that our main focus each year is to get people talking about the dangers of driving in dust storms. By building awareness about dust storm safety and our “Pull Aside, Stay Alive” message, we hope more drivers will know what to do when that next dust storm hits.

So, are you in? Will you help us spread the word on dust storm safety by coming up with your very own Haboob Haiku? All you have to do is share it with us on Twitter (don’t forget the #HaboobHaiku hashtag and be sure to mention @ArizonaDOT, so we see your poem) or on our Facebook page or even here in the blog comments.

How to Haboob Haiku

Haiku is a type of poetry that conforms to a certain syllable structure. These poems traditionally written in three lines – the first line consists of five syllables, the second line has seven and the third ends with five.

Usually these poems can be on any subject, but for #HaboobHaiku, we want you to focus on monsoons, dust storms and our safety message: Pull Aside, Stay Alive.

You can get some inspiration from our previous dust storm safety blog posts, or you can watch the video above to see top #HaboobHaikus from last year as voted on by the public.

Here are some of our favorites from past years:

• You’re not a Jedi / This is not Tatooine, Luke / Pull over now, man
• Oh snap, crackle, pop / Dust has you blind, pull over/ Or you’ll want to cry
• Dust blows, swirls and grows / Roadways become danger zones/ Pull over, lights off

We can’t wait to see what you come up with this year!

It’s that time of year again.

We’re headed into monsoon season, which means motorists need to be on alert. High winds, blowing dust and other conditions that can impact your drive are more common this time of year.

If you’ve been following us for the past few seasons, you already know the drill…

ADOT works to raise awareness on the subject and urges drivers to take extra safety precautions. We also get the word out when a dust storm is happening through social media, 511 and overhead message boards.

We’ll have more dust storm content for you this week (including a new video and the return of our #HaboobHaiku challenge!), but for now we want to leave you with some safety tips that we hope you’ll read and share with your friends, family and co-workers.

Motorists play an important role in their own safety and the safety of others when operating their vehicles during a dust storm. Here are some driving tips to remember when encountering a low- or no-visibility dust storm:

• Avoid driving into or through a dust storm.
• Do not wait until poor visibility makes it difficult to safely pull off the roadway -- do it as soon as possible. Completely exit the highway if you can.
• If you encounter a dust storm, check traffic immediately around your vehicle (front, back and to the side) and begin slowing down.
• Do not stop in a travel lane or in the emergency lane; look for a safe place to pull completely off the paved portion of the roadway.
• Stop the vehicle in a position ensuring it is a safe distance from the main roadway and away from where other vehicles may travel.
• Turn off all vehicle lights, including your emergency flashers.
• Set your emergency brake and take your foot off the brake.
• Stay in the vehicle with your seatbelts buckled and wait for the storm to pass.
• Drivers of high-profile vehicles should be especially aware of changing weather conditions and travel at reduced speeds.

A driver’s alertness and safe driving ability is still the number one factor to prevent crashes.

As always, drivers planning trips are urged to monitor travel conditions by calling 511, or by visiting www.az511.gov.

You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter and check out our dust storm safety website at pullasidestayalive.org.

Monsoon season doesn’t officially start until June, but try telling that to Mother Nature...

We’ve already experienced a few early dust storms and there’s no way of knowing too far in advance when dry and windy conditions will whip up another.

That’s why we’re bringing you today’s public service announcement. Consider it a sneak peek of our upcoming “Pull Aside, Stay Alive” campaign (yes, we’re planning to bring back the #HaboobHaiku!).

For now, please watch the video above, check out PullAsideStayAlive.org and review these tips for drivers who encounter a dust storm:

• Avoid driving into or through a dust storm.
• If you encounter a dust storm, check traffic immediately around your vehicle (front, back and to the side) and begin slowing down.
• Do not wait until poor visibility makes it difficult to safely pull off the roadway — do it as soon as possible. Completely exit the highway if you can.
• Do not stop in a travel lane or in the emergency lane; look for a safe place to pull completely off the paved portion of the roadway.
• Stop the vehicle in a position ensuring it is a safe distance from the main roadway and away from where other vehicles may travel.
• Turn off all vehicle lights, including your emergency flashers.
• Set your emergency brake and take your foot off the brake.
• Stay in the vehicle with your seatbelts buckled and wait for the storm to pass.
• Drivers of high-profile vehicles should be especially aware of changing weather conditions and travel at reduced speeds.
• A driver’s alertness and safe driving ability are always the top factors in preventing crashes.

For even more information on dust storm safety, re-visit some of our previous posts.

Strong winds and blowing dust rolled through the state yesterday, reminding us that motorists in Arizona must always be ready to “Pull Aside, Stay Alive.”

And, judging from these photographs, that has always been the case…

Taken in 1979 at 19th Avenue and the Salt River in Phoenix, these pictures show an area before and during a pretty intense-looking dust storm.

Notice how the arrow sign and guardrail are clearly visible in the top two photos, but cannot be seen in the bottom photo where the dust storm has reduced visibility to almost zero?

Here we are, 34 years later, and drivers still face dangerous dust storms on the road.

While the ADOT Blog wasn’t around to remind drivers of what to do when encountering a low-visibility storm back in 1979, we’re here now and thought we’d share these dust storm driving tips:

• Avoid driving into or through a dust storm.
• If you encounter a dust storm, check traffic immediately around your vehicle (front, back and to the side) and begin slowing down.
• Do not wait until poor visibility makes it difficult to safely pull off the roadway — do it as soon as possible. Completely exit the highway if you can, away from where other vehicles may travel.
• Do not stop in a travel lane or in the emergency lane; look for a safe place to pull completely off the paved portion of the roadway.
• Turn off all vehicle lights, including your emergency flashers.
• Set your emergency brake and take your foot off the brake.
• Stay in the vehicle with your seat-belts buckled and wait for the storm to pass.
• Drivers of high-profile vehicles should be especially aware of changing weather conditions and travel at reduced speeds.
• Be alert that any storm can cause power outages to overhead roadway lighting and traffic signals. Drive with caution and treat all intersections without signals as having stop signs in all directions.

For more information and driving tips, please visit PullAsideStayAlive.org.

And the winner is … ADOT!

We were thrilled to learn just this morning that ADOT’s Communications Division received several awards at the 2013 TransComm conference.

TransComm, by the way, is the yearly meeting for the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials Subcommittee on Transportation Communications. That’s a long title, but basically this conference is where transportation communicators from state departments of transportation get the chance to learn and exchange ideas with one another.

Held this week in Grand Rapids, Michigan, TransComm is also the place where DOTs are recognized for the work of their communications and public relations teams with the annual TransComm Skills Contest.

So, about those awards
ADOT received the following honors this morning for the 2013 TransComm Skills Contest:

Excel Award (without a consultant) for the Pull Aside, Stay Alive public education program. This honor represents AASHTO’s highest award for public relations programs and campaigns! ADOT’s entry included details on the Pull Aside, Stay Alive campaign and efforts by ADOT to engage the public using social media, traditional media, public service announcements, a website and signage.

Best Television Commercial or Public Service Announcement for the Pull Aside, Stay Alive video. In only 30 seconds, this impactful video shows viewers the very real danger of driving in a dust storm.

Issues/Crisis Management Communication for the communications program in response to the US 89 landslide. This award recognizes the efforts made and actions taken to communicate information concerning the US 89 landslide, both to residents near Page and to travelers passing through the region.

Best Micro-Blog for the ADOT Twitter account (which now has more than 25,000 followers!!). This award recognizes the use of a social media platform to inform and engage the public.

Best use of social media in a campaign for the Pull Aside, Stay Alive Haboob Haiku challenge (remember #HaboobHaiku?). This award recognizes how ADOT used social media to get the important safety message out.

Best Display for the 20 Years of Partnering trade-show display. We showed you this award-winning display when we blogged about this year’s International Conference on Ecology and Transportation. The display also was used at the recent Roads and Streets Conference and other industry events.

TransComm 2014, here we come

You may remember that at last year’s TransComm, it was announced Arizona would be the host state for the 2014 conference. Now, the countdown is really on and we’re looking forward to hosting our colleagues next year!