- Massachusetts Department of Transportation
Boston — The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) is announcing the winners of this year’s Annual Safe Streets Smart Trips High School Video Contest. This year, video submissions were received from high schools across the Commonwealth and six finalists’ videos were chosen to be screened during MassDOT’s 2023 Moving Together Conference, held this afternoon. The contest, which began in 2014, encourages high school students to showcase their understanding of roadway safety across all travel modes to promote efforts 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.
The video contest is open to all Massachusetts public high school students and features a Freshman/Sophomore category and Junior/Senior category. This year, students were asked to write and produce a 30-60 second video focused on the new vulnerable user laws in Massachusetts. Vulnerable users include pedestrians, people on bikes, individuals using wheelchairs and personal mobility devices, and others using modes other than cars.
“The Safe Streets Smart Trips High School Video Contest is a creative and innovative program aimed at supporting young people to teach each other about road safety,” said Acting Transportation Secretary and CEO Monica Tibbits-Nutt. “The new vulnerable user law is a topic that impacts everyone in the Commonwealth, and I am excited that we have six winning videos which remind drivers about new laws, including one requiring specific passing distances when approaching pedestrians, bicyclists and other vulnerable users.”
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. 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.
The prize award categories and high school recipients are as follows:
Grand Prize
Freshman/Sophomore category: Micah Klein, Rishi Prabhu, William Yanhs, Luis Carvalho, and Isabella Dugan from Newton North High School.
Video title: “4 Feet”
Junior/Senior category: Kemelly Rodrigues and Ava Bullock from Barnstable High School.
Video title: “Vulnerable Users”
Runners-up
Freshman/Sophomore category: David Cranton from Millis High School.
Video title: “Vulnerable Wagon/Can’t Stop Motion”
Junior/Senior category: Auron Flint from Millis High School.
Video title: “Invisible Biker”
Honorable Mention
Freshman/Sophomore category: Julia Bartow Fuchs, John Dinjian, Zac Lipchin, Oliver Neuberg, and Ruby Metcalf from Newton North High School.
Video title: “Guard the Lives of our Vulnerable Users”
Junior/Senior category: Kayla Dulac from Millis High School.
Video title: “4 Feet 4 Everyone”
This year’s winners were selected as grand prize, runner-up, and honorable mention videos in each category (Freshman/Sophomore and Junior/Senior) by a MassDOT panel. Video creators received 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 featured in future safety campaigns.
The videos will be posted and available to view on the Mass.gov at https://www.mass.gov/info-details/roadway-safety-video-contest-results.
MassDOT’s 2023 Moving Together Conference was held in-person and virtually. The purpose of the conference was to share transportation best practices and present topical issues including climate resiliency, expanding mobility and multimodal infrastructure, improving active transportation for schools, and showcasing new technology and equipment.
The Safe Streets Smart Trips High School Video Contest aims to raise awareness of safe transportation behaviors. The contest allows high school youth to lead by example in showcasing safe behaviors through a video. Safe Streets Smart Trips is part of the State Highway Safety Plan Bike/Ped Safety Initiative.
For more MassDOT news and updates visit Mass.gov/massdot, or follow @MassDOT on X, (formerly known as Twitter), Facebook/massdotinfo, and Instagram @MassDOT.
