- Massachusetts Department of Transportation
Boston — The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) is pleased to announce entries are now being accepted for the tenth annual statewide Safe Streets Smart Trips high school video contest. The contest, which began in 2014, encourages high school students to showcase their understanding of roadway safety across all travel modes to try to decrease pedestrian and bicyclist injuries and fatalities. The contest serves as an initiative of the Massachusetts Strategic Highway Safety Plan to promote safe walking, bicycling, and driving behaviors within the Commonwealth.
“We are excited to launch the tenth year of this popular high school video contest that helps to recognize and promote multimodal safety throughout the Commonwealth,” said Transportation Secretary and CEO Gina Fiandaca. “The contest provides an opportunity for students to work collaboratively with their peers and be creative, strategic and thoughtful in developing impactful public messages on roadway safety that can be shared to help keep family, friends and classmates safe.”
The video contest, which is open to all Massachusetts public high school students, features a Freshman/Sophomore category and Junior/Senior category. Per contest guidelines, this year students are being asked to write and produce a 30-60 second video that focuses on the new vulnerable user laws in Massachusetts. Vulnerable road users include pedestrians, people on bikes, individuals using wheelchairs and personal mobility devices, and others using modes other than cars.
In April 2023, new vulnerable user laws went into effect in Massachusetts which updated the state’s definition of a “vulnerable user” to include more modes of transportation. Since about one in five fatalities and serious injuries in motor vehicle crashes involve a vulnerable user, this updated definition will help increase roadway safety for all users across the Commonwealth. Additional components of these new laws include increased safe passing distances, new rear light requirements for people on bikes, safer speed limits in thickly settled areas, safety devices for trucks, and the use of a standardized analysis tool for crash reporting.
MassDOT will host a virtual informational session for educators on Thursday, August 24, to help answer any contest questions. Educators and students can register for the informational session at https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcvdeigqD0qGNREf50Rlf_hsJneKHdRD5cv.
Grand prize, runner-up, and honorable mention videos in each category (Freshman/Sophomore and Junior/Senior) will be chosen by a MassDOT panel. Winning videos will be shown October 4, 2023, at MassDOT’s annual active transportation conference, Moving Together, where the creators will receive their prizes including $600 Amazon gift cards for the grand prize videos and $300 Amazon gift cards for the runner-up videos. Top videos may also be used in future safety campaigns.
To learn more about the Safe Streets Smart Trips high school video contest visit Mass.gov/roadway-safety-video or call 857-383-3807.
For transportation news and updates visit www.mass.gov/massdot or follow MassDOT on Twitter at www.twitter.com/massdot.
