At this year’s Safety Partnering Roadeo, which was held March 26-27 at the State Fairgrounds facility in Phoenix, ADOT welcomed more than 400 people to participate in over 66 classes and various safety/training events…

But, what’s a roadeo?

There’s no roping, bull riding or barrel racing at an ADOT roadeo, but you will find plenty of events designed to test the skills and knowledge of equipment operators from all around the state.

Four components make up the two-day event that’s open to not only ADOT employees, but also equipment operators in the private sector and from other governmental agencies.

There’s a driving course, which is designed to test an operator’s ability to maneuver a vehicle through a series of obstacles. The main objective is to complete the course without hitting any of the obstacles and to operate the equipment in such a way as to demonstrate safe and proper equipment operation.

Next, there’s an equipment inspection that challenges an operator’s ability to perform a pre-trip inspection on the pieces of equipment on which they’ll be competing with. There are several safety and/or mechanical defects that must be identified on the unit inspected from a list of 50 possible defects.

Operators also have to complete a written test that factors into their overall score.

Most importantly, there’s the safety training – this is the primary focus of the roadeo and several safety training breakout sessions were held this year.

Judging from the video above, this year’s event was a good mix of friendly competition and lots of safety training, which is a big benefit to participants.

“The guys can go back and say, ‘hey, there’s something new out there I learned,’” says Highway Operations Manager Ron Curtis. “The more information you get, the better you are.”

ADOT’s Director of Safety and Risk Management Sonya Herrera explains the safety emphasis.

“We had about 419 people who attended training for a total of 703 hours,” she says in the video. “So this really does help make traveling on the state’s roadways, as well as those of our municipal partners, safer.”

Gore area: the space between a through roadway and an entrance or exit ramp. If it’s been a while since you studied up on the Arizona driver license manual, you might not recall that it is against the law to drive through a gore area ... or that it's three points against your license if you violate this traffic rule.

But your driving record isn't the only thing to worry about – crossing through the gore area is a dangerous move.

DPS Officer Carrick Cook explains that in 1998, DPS Officer Doug Knutson died after being struck by a vehicle that had crossed into the gore area. Officer Cook says that shortly after the tragedy, a law was passed making it illegal to cross or park in the gore area.

That law is very much enforced out on the roads in this state...

DPS statistics show that in just over three years, Arizona DPS officers have issued nearly 6,000 tickets to motorists for driving through the gore area. In that same time frame (July 2009 through earlier this month) officers have also issued 1,983 warnings.

Avoiding the gore area
Motorists should easily be able to identify a gore area – there are a few characteristics that are included in their design to aid drivers in recognizing the gore, according to ADOT State Traffic Engineer Al Zubi.

“We have included features to the marking of a gore area, such as a wider line, raised pavement markers on the side of the line to better delineate it and a dashed pavement marking configuration and end point to emphasize that the motorists need to keep out of the gore,” Zubi said.

Drivers who have no other alternative except to park in the gore area likely won’t receive a ticket. Officer Cook says if a car is disabled, the driver can stop in the gore area if that’s their only option, but it is recommended to pull into in the emergency shoulder lane or exit the freeway if at all possible.

“The simple fact is that it’s such a short area,” Officer Cook said of the gore. “People don’t anticipate crossing that line and it could cause some significant injuries … it’s a dangerous violation that we take very seriously.”

Read the state statute concerning gore areas. For more rules of the road, check out the Arizona driver license manual.

We probably don’t need to tell you this, but it is really, really hot out there …

A lot of us are lucky to work indoors during the warmest parts of the day (thank goodness for air-conditioning!), but here at ADOT many employees are stationed outside to work.

That is why ADOT and its workers take every precaution to prevent heat-related illness, particularly when temperatures hover well over 100 degrees. As you can imagine, heat-related injuries are a potential hazard for ADOT crews across the state. On asphalt or concrete, temperatures often soar 15 to 20 degrees above the air temperature!

ADOT trains its employees to know that exposure to summer heat can be life threatening if not treated properly. Highway workers are taught to monitor themselves and their co-workers for signs of heat-related incidents and to use common sense when working out in the hot sun.

“As highway and construction workers, we must be prepared to work in the elements every day,” said Granite Construction Safety Manager Mike Flynn, whose construction company has worked on several ADOT projects. “It is imperative our employees are trained both mentally and physically in the hazards of being out in the heat. Everyone must recognize and act upon signs of heat stress, not only for yourself, but also with your fellow workers.”

According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the main federal agency charged with the enforcement of safety and health legislation, each year thousands of outdoor workers experience serious heat related illnesses such as heat exhaustion. If they’re lucky, someone recognizes the symptoms fast enough to move them out of the heat, give them water and help cool them down. If not, heat exhaustion can lead to heat stroke. For 2010, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that 4,190 workers nationwide suffered from heat illness and 40 died from heat stroke and related causes on the job.

Heat safety training is a critical task for ADOT’s Health and Safety Office. Workers who are exposed to high temperatures are required to complete a heat stress training class.

They learn to know the signs and symptoms of heat injury, and to observe proper work practices. That includes drinking enough fluids, taking adequate rest breaks, wearing protective sun gear and knowing first aid procedures for treating heat illnesses. In addition, ADOT offices involved in highway work across the state conduct their own “Safety Stand Down Days” to review heat and other safety issues.

Through successful use of heat stress training and other methods, only seven ADOT employees have been treated for heat-related illnesses since 2009.

In addition to training, ADOT uses various strategies to mitigate the effects of the heat:

• Projects are usually started earlier in the day before the hottest hours in the afternoon.
• Workers use a ‘buddy system’, where they are responsible for observing fellow co-workers for early signs and symptoms of heat disorders.
• Summer standards include switching some paving to nighttime shifts once daytime temperatures reach 100.
• Retrofitting highways with one inch overlays of temperature-sensitive rubberized asphalt is typically avoided during the hottest months of the year.
• Employees who have not been working in hot environments are recommended to have at least a 7 to-10 day acclimatization period during which they need to take extra time to rest and replenish liquids.
• ADOT has a large supply of safety products for distribution to employees. The Health and Safety Office provides large amounts of sunscreen to employees who work outside. Additionally, the department has access to other sun protection gear, including hard hat sun shades and long sleeved safety shirts.

The wait is over ... today's the day we announce the top Haboob Haikus as voted for by the public.

Before you watch the video above to see if your favorite was selected, we just want to give a big thanks to everyone who participated in the 2012 Haboob Haiku challenge!

It was a very close race and we appreciate ALL the poets out there who helped us spread the message: Pull Aside, Stay Alive.

---

When Haboob Haikus made the news all the way in New Zealand, we started to realize this Twitter challenge of ours was really taking off!

Who could have guessed that #HaboobHaiku would end up yielding more than 500 stories in worldwide media outlets?

It was covered in the Arizona Republic, Washington Post, New York Daily News and the Huffington Post – not to mention being discussed on CNN, the Weather Channel and NPR’s Morning Edition.

The results were, to quote the New York Daily News (@NYDNBooks), “sort of awesome.”

They were even talking about haboobs in Minnesota – a state where, apparently, they don’t deal with much dust because local readers were instead asked for their best humidity haikus!

Besides the media coverage we heard plenty of great feedback from the Twittersphere … @BlazingLily said, “#HaboobHaiku just might be the best hashtag ever.”

We agree, because #HaboobHaiku helped us spread our dust storm safety message far and wide!

Which brings us to the haikus themselves … today we’re asking you to help us pick a favorite!

But, don’t worry; you won’t have to go through the hundreds of poems we received on Twitter, Facebook, e-mail and the blog. We already read every single one and managed to narrow it down to the top 15 (a difficult task ... they were all great!).

You can vote once per day through next Thursday and we’ll announce the winner on Friday, June 29. We can’t promise a prize, but the winning Haboob Haiku will be featured in a special way!

Vote for your favorite Haboob Haiku!
	Woah! Mighty dust wall! / Pull over and turn off lights / Wait for clearer skies. @lindsaycat
	You're not a Jedi / This is not Tatooine, Luke. / Pull over now, man. @will_watson
	Dust blows, swirls, and grows / Roadways become danger zones / Pull over, lights off. @Lisa4LFA
	What is up ahead? / Cloud of dust I've learned to dread. / Off road! ADOT said. @idoinvent
	Look out for haboobs. / Be alert, avoid the dirt. / Wait! Arrive alive! @ChinchillaZest
	Dust storms are deadly / Pull over, turn off lights, wait / As earth becomes sky. @tmichaels1
	When dust clouds eat me / "Off: Road, lights, engine" tweets me / NO haboob beats me! @Mom_of_R
	Truckers watch for storms / Professionals pull over / Wait out blowing dust @HDTrucking
	Wham bam dust storm jam/ Can't see, don't drive pull over/ Lights out 'til all clear @katelynchphoto
	haboob o' my heart / swording day into dark night / drives me to the side @pandehuevo
	Caught in the haboob? / Do you care to stay alive? / Simply put - don't drive! @aliza123
	Signs of sand appear / Sunny day retreats in dark / Cars shift into park @kdeegs
	Would you fly a kite / in a giant hurricane? / Don't drive in haboobs @ChampPR
	Driving through THIS mess? / Fool. Haboob is like Honey / Badger: it don't care. @sgv
	It's called a "haboob" / What? I didn't insult you / Stop the car, honey. @DianeFarr
pollcode.com free polls

Now that our Haboob Haiku challenge is coming to an end, who out there is ready for the next transportation themed poetry contest?

Got any “HOV-Lane Limericks”? How about an “Ode to the Road” or, maybe a “Cement Sonnet”?

On second thought, never mind – those are all terrible ideas.

Besides, we’re pretty certain nothing is going to top the impressive response we got with #HaboobHaiku!

Here’s a big thank you to everyone who submitted poems on Twitter, Facebook and the blog. You helped us spread the word on dust storm safety, which is exactly what we had hoped would happen (although, we admit we had no idea the message would go so far and so quickly!).

We had a lot of fun with this and hope you did, too, but as we wrap things up this week we want to remind everyone of just how dangerous haboobs can be. We’re headed into monsoon season (the official start is today) and those dusty, unpredictable storms are on their way.

So, before the next one hits, we invite you to take a look at the powerful video above. It illustrates why we all need to be aware of the havoc these storms can bring to our roads.

Stay safe and don’t forget: Pull Aside, Stay Alive.

By Nicole Sherbert
ADOT Assistant Communication Director
We've been pretty entrenched in social media this week so we thought we'd take this opportunity to answer a question we get asked from time to time... 

Why, as a state agency, does ADOT commit resources to social media?

If you're an ardent ADOT Blog follower, you know that the easy answer to that question is education.

Whether we’re educating users about their transportation system, helping our customers find needed services, explaining and soliciting input on transportation planning, showing what goes into building a freeway, or trying to explain succinctly how transportation is funded in Arizona, our primary goal is to educate and inform our readers so they’ll have a better understanding of how their tax dollars are spent.

But the potential of social media goes so much further than us delivering our message...

Building public awareness

You’re reading this blog, so chances are you’ve seen our Haboob Haiku challenge this week.

By all accounts, it’s been an incredibly successful effort – 100s of tweets and retweets, national media coverage, record blog views and nearly 2,000 PSA views on YouTube. But why did we do it?

As much fun as we’ve had besting each other’s creativity around the office and following the #HaboobHaiku trend on Twitter, the answer is actually very simple: It got people talking about the dangers of driving in dust storms.

Dust storms are a very real threat to public safety in Arizona. According to the 2010 Crash Facts (the most recent year available), a statewide total of 48 crashes occurred during "blowing sand, soil, dirt.” Those crashes resulted in two fatalities and 41 injuries.

While our haikus won’t prevent all future visibility-related crashes, the buzz behind them has -- at the very least -- helped build awareness about dust storm safety tips and introduced the concept of Pull Aside, Stay Alive.

Building an audience

Contrary to what people might jokingly think, ADOT does not go around closing roads just because we have a lot of orange traffic cones. If ADOT has closed a road, I can absolutely promise you there is a very important reason -- and it's a reason we want everyone to know about! The more people who like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, watch our YouTube channel and read our blog, the more people we are able to inform about major travel impacts or safety advisories when they occur.

For example…last year, ADOT had to close Interstate 10 for ten hours and the only way around was a 67-mile, 2-lane-highway detour. Not exactly the kind of message we enjoy delivering (and, just for the record, a very extreme example).

In the past we would have had to depend almost entirely on traditional media outlets to deliver that message for us. And while we will always rely heavily on and continue to partner with the media, social media allows us to target that message, reach out to our users directly on a strategic time frame, and rely on our social network to spread the word among their users and friends.

Think of the old adage, "If a tree falls in the forest and no one's there to hear it, does it make a sound?" Well, if ADOT posts an important public safety warning and no one's there to read it...?

There are a lot of factors that go into building an audience, the most important of which is meaningful and engaging interaction (#HaboobHaiku anyone?).

Emergency Communication (Here’s where you come in!)

So, social media is a great tool for building buzz, interest and engagement over time. We aggressively launched the monsoon safety awareness campaign Monday morning and it steadily built momentum through our social and traditional media outlets reaching national media attention late Wednesday afternoon (incredible success, but that's still three days, folks).

But what happens when the dust storm actually hits -- with little to no warning?

The National Weather Service predicts that Arizona will experience three major dust events this season. As soon as that dust advisory is issued, you can bet ADOT will start tweeting and posting both the advisory and our driving tips over at PullAsideStayAlive.org.

This is where you come in and it's why we build our audience during the awareness phase: so when there is an emergency, you are there to help us spread the word. When you see that Facebook travel advisory post, please share it. As you're skimming through your Twitter feed and notice something seemingly urgent, take an extra second to hit retweet!

Since yesterday we’ve received a number of really inspired Haboob Haikus. We are overwhelmed by the creativity that’s out there!

Have you had the chance to submit a poem yet?

Wait … before you hurry off to put the finishing touches on your masterpiece, we’d like to first share a little more about how ADOT deals with dust.

Like we said earlier this week, dust storms are ultimately an act of nature – they’re difficult to predict and control. But that doesn’t mean we can’t try to minimize at least the preventable dust.

We shared some tips for driving in dust on Monday (the most important one being, avoid driving through a dust storm) but it seems we talk about dust a lot around here. So for today’s blog post we wanted to recap some of the things we’ve discussed before about how ADOT works to mitigate against blowing dust year round.

First off, Arizona is in the desert (a fairly obvious point, we know), so dust and sand is an issue we always consider, especially during construction of a project.

The amount of dust on a construction site is constantly and closely monitored. Dust levels must meet ADOT and Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) policy and standards. Contractors can even be fined if there’s too much dust on projects.

Before construction even begins, water is applied to the site to not only help with compaction, but also to keep dust at bay. During construction, ADOT will often “seed” temporarily exposed dirt to encourage vegetation growth and prevent blowing dust.

Once construction is completed, ADOT will plant new vegetation in the areas that were disturbed, which, you guessed it cuts down on dust. In addition to plants, ADOT uses landform graphics to not only make a nice-looking landscape, but also to mitigate dust.

Finally, paving roads in and of itself is also a dust control effort … imagine how much dust our cars would kick up if roads weren’t paved.

The ability to reduce natural dust impact is, of course, beyond the control of ADOT. Private landowners play a role in dust control and so do the region’s policy makers. ADOT has and will continue to work with these stakeholders on the issue of reduced visibility created by dust storms.

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Taken last July, this photo shows an oncoming Haboob.

Our mission this week is massive and we’ve got to admit, we are going to need a little help.

We’re trying to spread the word on monsoon and dust storm safety and we want to reach as many people as possible, which is where you come in!

After kicking things off yesterday with some driving tips and that cautionary video, we’re launching a “Haboob Haiku” challenge on Twitter today and we’d like you to help us educate others.

Let us explain.

Besides being fun to say, ‘haboob’ is another word for a dust storm and a Haiku is a type of poetry that conforms to a certain syllable structure.

Put them together and you’ve got a Haboob Haiku!

Haikus are traditionally written in three lines – the first line consists of five syllables, the second line has seven and the third line ends with five. Usually these poems are focused on just about any subject, but for our challenge we want you to stick with Haboobs, dust storms and our safety theme (remember “Pull Aside, Stay Alive” from yesterday’s post?).

Ready for a few examples to get things started?

Dust cloud approaching:
The air becomes thick and brown.
Pull over and wait

Haboob engulfs you –
Vision obscured and hazy –
Exit the roadway.

Drive with care in dust
Pull aside and stay alive
Wait for dust to pass

Dust storms mean danger
Zero visibility
Pull over and wait

We’d like you to post your Haboob Haiku creations on Twitter and include the hashtag #HaboobHaiku.

Be sure to share with your friends and let them know what it’s all about. After all, our No. 1 goal is safety and we want to reach as many Arizona drivers as we can to help them prepare for the monsoon and dust storm season ahead ... but who says we can’t have a little fun, too? We're excited to see what you all come up with!!

At ADOT we always want to give drivers a warning of what’s coming up on the road ahead...

Whether it’s an impending freeway closure or a new type of traffic signal, we try our very best to get the word out ahead of time so motorists know what to expect.

But, sometimes something will impact our roads (and the ability to drive them) quickly and without much notice, making it all the more difficult to get the message out.

Dust storms absolutely fall under this category.

As you can see in the video above, these weather phenomena arrive suddenly and bring a blinding dust that can quickly reduce visibility to near zero. They make driving conditions hazardous and can cause crashes that may involve chain collisions and massive pileups on highways.

Ultimately, dust storms are an act of nature. While we don’t get much advance notice that they’re on the way, we can at least learn about these storms and know what to do when we encounter one.

Which brings us to this week’s theme: Pull Aside • Stay Alive.

You’ll hear that a lot from us over the next few days as we devote the entire week to monsoon and dust storm awareness.

That’s right ... this whole week will be focused on staying safe during the monsoon and dust storm season. We’ve got a lot planned for you here on the blog and on our Facebook and Twitter pages, too, so you’ll want to stay tuned!

But, first up, we’ve got some tips for drivers. Motorists play an important role in their own safety and the safety of others when operating vehicles during a dust storm ... here’s what to do 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 No. 1 factor to prevent crashes.