Recognizing Excellence: THSO Unveils 35th Annual Tennessee Lifesavers Award Winners

TENNESSEE – Last week, the Tennessee Highway Safety Office (THSO) announced the award recipients from its 35th Annual Tennessee Lifesavers Conference on Wednesday, August 2, through Friday, August 4. Every year, the THSO hosts this event to empower highway safety professionals statewide and recognize achievements made in improving the safety of Tennessee roadways. Agencies and individuals were awarded for achievements in traffic safety education, advocacy, and enforcement to reduce traffic crashes, injuries, and fatalities through THSO grant-funded programs related to child passenger safety, teen driver advocacy, impaired-driving prevention, speed reduction, pedestrian safety, and more. Award winners are listed as follows. To access photos and more, visit www.tnlifesaverschallenge.com

“The THSO is honored to recognize our many local heroes going above and beyond the call of duty,” said THSO Director Buddy Lewis. “Whether you are a first responder, community advocate, prosecutor, or law enforcement officer – you play an important role in traffic safety and make a difference in saving lives every day. We appreciate the hard work and dedication of our traffic safety partners as we continue striving to zero deaths on Tennessee roads.”

Child Passenger Safety (CPS) Awards

• CPS Diamond of the Year:
  • Tennessee Department of Health, Southeast Region – Community Health Access and Navigation in Tennessee (CHANT) Program
• CPS Fitting Station of the Year:
  • McMinnville-Warren County CPS Coalition
• CPS Instructor of the Year:
  • Lt. Rebecca Cowan, Sevierville Police Department
• CPS Technician of the Year:
  • Malissa Davis, Polk County Health Department
• Dr. Robert Sander’s Leadership and Service Award:
  • Rhea County Sheriff’s Department – Safe Journey Program

Director’s Awards

• AAA – The Auto Club Group
• Chief Barry Diebold, Brownsville Police Department
• Chief Michael Bowen, Murfreesboro Police Department
• Tennessee Department of Transportation’s Help Truck Program
• Tennessee Highway Patrol – Chattanooga District’s Ace Unit: Lt. Stoney Morton, Trooper Lance Hughes, Trooper Dale Herring, and Trooper Scott Uselton
• Tony Burnett

Drug Recognition Expert of the Year

• Sgt. Jessie B. Loy, Metropolitan Nashville Police Department

Reduce TN Crashes Gold Awards

• Clay County High School
• Cumberland County High School
• Dickson County High School
• Dyer County High School
• Gibson County High School
• Milan High School 
• Obion County Central High School
• South Gibson County High School
• Stone Memorial High School
• Unicoi County High School

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The Tennessee Highway Safety Office (THSO) is a division of the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security advocating for traffic safety. The THSO works in tandem with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to implement statewide programs addressing occupant protection, impaired driving, speed enforcement, pedestrian and bicycle safety, and crash data collection and analysis. Programs administered by the THSO are 100 percent federally funded. The THSO’s mission is to effectively develop, implement, and evaluate these programs. To learn more, please visit www.tntrafficsafety.org.