Texas Municipal Courts Education Center

Project Update

Driving on the Right Side of the Road (DRSR) - Purpose and Mission

Motor vehicle collisions are the number one cause of unintentional death among children ages one to 19 years (Safe Kids Worldwide, 2017).  Based on reported crashes in Texas in 2017, there was one person killed every two hours and 21 minutes, one person injured every one minute and 4 seconds, and one crash reported every 59 seconds (TxDOT, 2017).  Nationwide, although deaths of children younger than 13 in motor vehicles crashes have declined since 1975, crashes still cause one of every four unintentional deaths (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, 2017).  Education in the following areas will help save young lives: motor vehicle occupant restraint, bicycle and pedestrian safety, motorcycle safety, railway crossing safety, bus safety, speeding, and impaired and distracted driving.

DRSRs mission is to reduce the numbers of these needless tragedies through traffic safety education.  This education takes place through schools, through courts and community outreach, and through community groups and their ability to access students outside the normal school day.  DRSR provides free traffic safety education materials to these groups.  DRSR also provides guidance on how best to use these resources.

Working together, we can save lives!

2019 Update

FY 2019 Highlights and Accomplishments

DRSR and TMCEC continue to be grateful for the financial resources offered by TxDOT that allow us to serve the teachers, judges, and clerks of Texas.  Using these tools, Driving on the Right Side of the Road and the Texas Municipal Courts Education Center have:

• DRSR provided an exhibit and a workshop for the Texas Law-Related Education Statewide Conference held at the Jake Pickle Center in Austin on January 25 & 26, 2019.
• DRSR developed 14 different educational resources for teaching traffic safety in the classroom.
• DRSR conducted its Teacher Traffic Safety Academy at the Omni Southpark Hotel in Austin on July 16-18.  Nineteen educators participated and evaluations were stellar.
• DRSR trained 2,585 educators on the DRSR project, resources, and available materials through workshops and webinars.
• DRSR shipped a total of 2,383 boxes of traffic safety education materials to schools, courts, and community groups throughout Texas.
• DRSR provided 43 exhibits for schools, professional organizations, and seminars.
• DRSR trained 4,716 court professionals, prosecutors, and attorneys on traffic safety and/or DRSR resources in FY19.
• DRSR produced 21 pages of traffic safety materials and education for The Recorder, TMCEC’s legal journal.
• DRSR distributed 60 packets and orders of DRSR materials to community groups all over the State of Texas.
• DRSR updated and revised all TEKS for published lessons in the Kindergarten through 12^th grade publications.  In all, 13 units of DRSR curriculum were updates in FY19.

FY 2018 Highlights and Accomplishments

• There were three new lessons added to the curriculum through the Teacher Traffic Safety Academy, and another two through our curriculum update.  These lessons will be added to the curriculum via the DRSR website and integrated into the printed curriculum.
• DRSR exhibited traffic safety education materials 45 times.
• DRSR both exhibited and presented at the Texas Law-Related Education Statewide conference held in January at the J.J. Pickle Center in Austin.
• There were 20 participants in this year’s Teacher Traffic Safety Academy held at the Texas Law Center in July.  Evaluations were excellent with most participants requesting to be included in next year’s workshop.
• DRSR trained 745 lawyers, municipal judges, and court personnel on traffic safety outreach and DRSR resources.
• DRSR trained 2,470 municipal Judges and court personnel at TMCEC conferences and webinars on traffic safety issues.
• DRSR produced 20 pages of traffic safety education material for the TMCEC legal journal, The Recorder.  This publication was distributed to over 5,000 judges and court personnel all over the State of Texas 
• DRSR shipped a total of 2,951 boxes of traffic safety materials.  DRSR would like to thank the TxDOT Print Shop for providing many of these materials. 
• 1,690 boxes of children’s books and curriculum
• 428 sets of posters in a court outreach project
• 833 boxes of U.S. Pocket Constitutions during the summer 
• DRSR trained 2,083 teachers on the traffic safety resources of DRSR curriculum and children’s literature. Many of these educators were pre-service teachers who are just entering the workforce as new educators. 
• DRSR updated all traffic safety lessons in the K-3 Curriculum book and the K-12 Curriculum book. 

Driving on the Right Side of the Road would like to thank the Texas Department of Transportation for its generosity. 

Kids In Court... Children visit the Pasadena Municipal Court with Judge Lester Rorick to learn more about municipal courts.

TMCEC wishes to express its appreciation to Terry Pence, Traffic Safety Director, Traffic Operations Division, and Lydia Bryan-Valdez, Program Manager, at the Texas Department of Transportation for their valuable assistance in procuring funding and helping to implement the DRSR programs.