2027 Transportation Safety Conference Sessions

Moderator: Rob Istas, Law Enforcement Liaison, KDOT

Speaker: Jay Riggen

During roadside encounters, calls for service and interviews, public safety professionals too often leave critical clues and indirect admissions unharvested. This is not because we intend to, but because we fail to detect the nonverbal language, emotions and deceptions being subtly communicated right in front of us.

This interactive, 3.5-hour workshop introduces and educates attendees to the world of full-spectrum communications, with a heavy emphasis on nonverbal strategies. Leading with microexpressions (the fleeting, involuntary facial movements that show one’s true feelings in the moment), participants will learn to decode hidden physical signals in furtherance of their investigations. 

Moving beyond passive observation, this course also focuses on self-awareness: how officers can consciously use their own body language to de-escalate tension, enhance cooperation and overcome subjects’ cognitive roadblocks in furtherance of desired investigation and case outcomes. 

The practical application of these skills will be thoroughly examined across three critical environments: highway safety and field policing, critical testimony/courtroom presentation and day-to-day interactions. This is an excellent course for communicators of all skill levels and backgrounds. 

Bio

Jay Riggen is a graduate of the SI Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, where he also minored in nonviolent conflict and change.  He holds a master’s degree in criminal justice from Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. In 2024, he retired from the Vermont State Police at the rank of sergeant in the agency’s sought-after Special Operations Unit.

During his award-winning career work as a Drug Recognition Expert (DRE) and senior DRE Instructor, Jay was recognized as a court-qualified expert on impaired driving topics. His role included serving as the state police’s leading expert in traffic safety and impaired driving enforcement, education initiatives, operations and policy advisory. Notably, Jay designed and implemented a roadside communication program that was adopted by the Vermont State Police as required training for Uniform Division Troopers and by the Vermont Criminal Justice Council (Vermont Police Academy) for Field Training Officers statewide.  

Jay has also served as adjunct faculty in the Community College of Vermont (CCV) network, teaching courses in Effective Speaking, Intercultural Communication and Conflict Resolution. During this time, he received the college’s prestigious student-and-faculty-nominated “Teaching Excellence Award.”  He was later contracted by CCV as a communications and conflict subject matter expert to develop courses to improve workplace communication and conflict management.  

Jay is a nationally recognized presenter, working with audiences across the country to optimize communication strategies, improve processes and achieve desired outcomes. 

Moderator: Al Ackerman, Law Enforcement Liaison, KDOT

Speaker: David Vilaysing

Effective de-escalation is not a script — it is the ability to recognize what is happening, select the right communication tool and adapt as circumstances change. This interactive course provides first responders with a practical framework for managing difficult and high-stress encounters. Participants will explore emotional intelligence, behavioral communication styles, trauma and crisis responses, and the TRACK principles of Transparency, Respect, Active Listening, Control Yourself, and Keep it Fair. Through discussion and scenario-based application, participants will learn to assess behavior, improve communication, maintain self-control and select appropriate tools to increase cooperation, reduce conflict and improve safety.

Bio

Retired Sergeant David Vilaysing has more than 22 years of combined military and civilian law enforcement experience. His assignments included field training officer, special situation response team member, and instructor in defensive tactics, TASER, de-escalation and scenario-based training. He is the owner of DXI Training Solutions LLC and author of "The Right Tool for the Job: A De-escalation Guide for First Responders," bringing practical, field-tested approaches to first responder training.

Speaker: Holly Kostrzewski

• Interdisciplinary partnership
• Rural traffic safety
• Crash response
• Cultivating post-crash care
• Seat belt use (90% goal)
• Lessons from Harvard
• FUN!!!

Holly Kostrzewski, MPH, is a nationally recognized traffic safety leader and keynote speaker with 24 years of tribal, state and federal public service in injury prevention and traffic safety.

Holly began her career with the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and went on to complete an Indian Health Service Program Development Fellowship, serving American Indian communities nationwide. For 13 years, she led the Northeast and Northwest Minnesota Toward Zero Deaths regional programs. She helped develop, implement and grow those programs, and seat belt use in the regions rose from 68.5% to over 90%. She later served as the first tribal and rural expert at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Holly received the Kathy Swanson Award, Minnesota's highest public safety honor, and the Lifesavers Conference Public Leadership Award. Her keynotes have reached more than one million people across the United States, Canada and New Zealand.

Holly is the founder of Kostrzewski Consulting LLC and the inaugural American Service Fellow in the Mid-Career Master's in Public Administration program at Harvard Kennedy School.

Raised on a potato and grain farm in Stephen, Minnesota, Holly brings a frontier rural perspective and a message of hope, humor and heart to every audience.

Moderator: Cherie Sage, KDHE SAFE KIDS

Speakers: Nolan Oehrke, Cody Keenan

As micromobility and electrified devices continue to grow in popularity, shortcomings in public policy, enforcement of laws, safety education programs, parent/school resources, and the built environment are increasingly apparent. In response, communities are scrambling to create new laws and safety campaigns to increase safety and minimize the use of unsafe, unregulated products flooding the market. This session breaks down: what micromobility is; current laws regulating device type/usage; differences of e-bikes and e-motos; safety approaches that work; and consequences of unsafe device usage amongst youth. The session brings together leaders from different sectors on how they are approaching safety concerns in their respective fields.

Bios

Nolan Oehrke currently serves as Director of Education at BikeWalkKC where he manages Safe Routes To School programs in the bistate Kansas City region. Nolan’s passion for education stems from his formal education as a Spanish teacher. Additionally, he is a member of the Kansas Safe Routes Advisory Committee and collaborates with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to help implement and promote Safe Routes programs in rural school districts throughout the state.

Cody Keenan is a Lawrence, Kansas Police Officer serving on the Accident Investigations Unit and is a certified Child Passenger Safety Technician. As the department’s liaison to the Safe Kids Douglas County coalition, he focuses on improving child and teen safety on public roads, with growing emphasis on micromobility risks and education involving e‑bikes and other emerging vehicles.

Moderator: Judge Karen Wittman, KDOT Judicial Outreach Liaison

Speakers: Judge Robert Anchondo, Judge Jason Maxwell

The presentation will address the use of specialized DUI/DWI courts for high-risk, high-need defendants and the effectiveness of those courts in limiting recidivism for those participants. It will address the best practices and the implementation of those practices within the specialized courts. The benefits to the individuals, their families and the community will be highlighted. The presentation will also focus on the need for treatment courts in smaller jurisdictions in Kansas. The methods of obtaining funding and running the treatment court using community and other resources will be outlined. It will address ways to comply with best practices without having significant resources available.

Bios

Judge Anchondo serves on the Judicial Advisory Board on impaired driving for Responsibility.org, is a faculty member at the National Judicial College, and is also a local, state and national lecturer on various topics dealing with judicial education/impaired driving. He also serves as the judicial outreach liaison for the ABA JOL Fellow, which provides judicial education. On May 28, 2025, he was awarded the Stanley Goldstein Award from All Rise.

Judge Maxwell has served as a judge in many municipal courts for over 20 years.  He started the Treatment Court (adult drug court) in Liberal, Kansas Municipal Court as a pilot program in 2019 and served as the treatment court judge until 2026. Judge Maxwell is a faculty member of All Rise and is active in judicial education. He has served as the president of the Kansas Municipal Judges Association and has received the Michael Barbara Award for his contributions to judicial education.

Moderator: TBD

Speakers: TBD

Session details coming soon.

Bios

Details coming soon. 

Session details coming soon.

Session details coming soon.

Moderator: TBD

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Session details coming soon.

Bios

Details coming soon.

Moderator: Chase Null, KDOT

Speaker: Don Bulter

This session explores how modular safety improvements, such as prefabricated rubber and composite refuge islands and roundabouts, enable transportation agencies to rapidly implement effective safety solutions. With examples from the City of Omaha and the Nebraska Department of Transportation, the presenter will share insights into the design, assembly, maintenance and winter operations of these locations.

Bio

Don Butler is the Traffic Safety Engineer for the Nebraska Department of Transportation and manages Nebraska’s Highway Safety Improvement Program and crash database team. Don believes that zero is the only acceptable number of fatalities on Nebraska roadways. His passion for safety has brought together his experience designing airports, working with nuclear reactors, teaching motorcycle safety courses and now improving roadway safety.

Moderator: Amy Rockers, KDOT

Speakers: Shauna Hallmark, Mike Armour

Learn about NCHRP Research Project 17-114, "Integrated Strategies for Managing Excessive Travel Speed to Improve Safety Performance," a study to identify the relationship between cross-sectional elements and their effects on managing speed, as well as a guide for transportation agencies to implement strategies for speed management. The presentation will focus on speed management on non-traditional roadways.

Additionally, attendees will learn about speed management in practice by hearing about projects and practices in the city of Wichita geared toward speed management.

Bios

Shauna Hallmark is the director for InTrans at ISU and a professor in the Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering. She has over 25 years of experience in traffic safety research with an emphasis on speed management and evaluating crash countermeasures.

Mike Armour: Details coming soon. 

Moderator: TBD

Speakers: Kim Negrete, Laura VanBurkleo

Transportation safety often focuses on infrastructure improvements, but research and current data highlight the need to establish a culture of transportation safety and shared responsibility to significantly reduce serious injury and fatality crashes and save lives. The number of motorists who choose to speed, drive aggressively and drive distracted is on the rise, so how do communities shift the culture towards safety? 

A toolkit of strategies and resources developed by WAMPO, local jurisdictions and community partners is now available to encourage residents to start the conversation and take action within their everyday circles of influence. The toolkit also provides government-led strategies for increasing community engagement.

Bios

Kim Negrete leads community engagement efforts at the Wichita Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, focusing on safety and accessibility for all road users. Her 25-year career has focused on public engagement strategies for local government, coalition facilitation and grassroots engagement through Bike Walk Wichita, a volunteer-led nonprofit. Her work over the years has led to successful collaborations with government entities, businesses, school systems and transportation professionals.

Laura VanBurkleo is a planning analyst at the Wichita Area Metropolitan Planning Organization. Her work includes financial and data reporting, data collection, public engagement and safe routes to school.

Previously, Laura spent 10 years working in Wichita public schools and brings that perspective to transportation safety, focusing on factors that influence safe choices. Laura is passionate about using data and public input to identify practical ways to make travel safe and accessible for all.

Moderator: TBD

Speakers: TBD

Session details coming soon.

Bios

Details coming soon.

Room: Redbud B

Moderator: Max Wilcox, KDOT

Speakers: Ashley Winchell, Carey Spoon

Transportation safety improves when zoning standards, land use patterns and economic development goals, such as workforce mobility, freight movement and business access align. This session shows how these themes were brought together through two Safe Streets and Road for All (SS4A) planning processes. For its plan, the Unified Government of Wyandotte County looked beyond the roadway right-of-way to evaluate how existing standards contribute to more dangerous environments and limit the types of development people want. Likewise, the Southeast Kansas Regional Planning Commission used its plan to establish priorities across twelve rural counties, giving local leaders a practical framework for directing limited resources. Together, this presentation shows how safety improvements support connectivity, economic resilience and vibrancy within communities. 

Bios

Ashley Winchell is the Midwest planning practice lead at Wilson & Company, where she leads planning work across Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska. Her 19 years of experience in both transportation and land use planning span both public and private. Ashley managed seven SS4A action plans across the Midwest and contributed to numerous land use and transportation studies.

Carey Spoon is executive director of the Southeast Kansas Regional Planning Commission and has 11 years of experience developing, funding and administering infrastructure and community development projects for rural communities. She led the successful application for a 12-county Safe Streets and Roads for All Comprehensive Safety Action Plan, which received the 2025 Aliceann Wohlbruck Impact Award from the National Association of Development Organizations.

Moderator: Wendy O’Hare, KDHE

Speakers: TBD

Session details coming soon.

Bios

Details coming soon. 

Moderator: TBD

Speaker: Gayle Donaldson

Addressing behavioral safety requires a strong grasp of what your community's traffic safety problem is. We will discuss how a wide range of data sources can help quantify and qualify the need for behavioral safety intervention and how projects can be developed to directly correspond to the identified problem. We will also highlight case studies of how communities have used problem identification to craft solutions to address their needs.

Bio

Gayle Donaldson is the assistant manager of the behavioral safety section at KDOT. This section administers NHTSA funds throughout Kansas to address critical behavioral safety needs through education, enforcement and emergency response solutions. She leads a team of program managers who assist grantees with identifying and solving traffic safety issues statewide.  

Facilitator: Vanessa Spartan, AICP, Kansas Department of Transportation

Moderator: Jim Hollingsworth, Kansas Department of Transportation

Stakeholders will discuss transportation safety within their region, including their efforts in engineering, enforcement, education and emergency response. Attendees will also learn about forthcoming safety planning efforts and review regional crash data by examining the data dashboard. The goal of these workshops is for all traffic safety stakeholders to discuss and collaborate on the transportation safety challenges and opportunities for their region.

Facilitator: Haley Dougherty, Kansas Department of Transportation

Moderator: Gary Herman, Kansas Department of Transportation

Stakeholders will discuss transportation safety within their region, including their efforts in engineering, enforcement, education and emergency response. Attendees will also learn about forthcoming safety planning efforts and review regional crash data by examining the data dashboard. The goal of these workshops is for all traffic safety stakeholders to discuss and collaborate on the transportation safety challenges and opportunities for their region.

Facilitator: Max Wilcox, Kansas Department of Transportation

Moderator: David Schwartz, Kansas Department of Transportation

Stakeholders will discuss transportation safety within their region, including their efforts in engineering, enforcement, education and emergency response. Attendees will also learn about forthcoming safety planning efforts and review regional crash data by examining the data dashboard. The goal of these workshops is for all traffic safety stakeholders to discuss and collaborate on the transportation safety challenges and opportunities for their region.

Moderator: TBD

Speakers: TBD

Session details coming soon.

Bios

Details coming soon.

Moderator: Gayle Donaldson, KDOT

Speakers: James T. “Tim” Bryan, Cheyenne Shaw

Nonprofit organizations can be a force multiplier for education, enforcement and emergency response efforts to reduce traffic fatalities in Kansas. Speakers will share success stories from Kansas and across the nation on the power of partnership to advance traffic safety goals and share tips on how law enforcement and first responder agencies can identify and cultivate community partners.

Bios

James T. "Tim" Bryan has served the City of Bentley since 2020, beginning as their chief of police and then assuming a combined role as city administrator in 2022. He previously worked for the Kansas Highway Patrol and Wichita and Maize police departments. He serves as vice-chair of the Traffic Safety Committee for the Small and Rural Law Enforcement Executives Association, Board President for the DUI Victim Center of Kansas and the Mount Hope Rural EMS District.

Cheyenne Shaw began her work with the DUI Victims Center of Kansas in 2020 and became the agency’s executive director in 2026. She works directly with victims and families impacted by impaired driving crashes. She has seen firsthand the role partnerships play in advancing the shared goal of zero traffic fatalities. She believes meaningful and lasting change in roadway safety cannot be accomplished by any one organization alone, but through people willing to work together toward a common goal.

Moderator: Dawn Hueske, KDOT

Speakers: Jason Fizell, Anthony Gallo, Saumik Masud

Safety planning can provide communities with a roadmap for identifying safety needs, engaging partners and advancing projects, but developing these plans also comes with challenges. This panel brings together consultants with firsthand experience developing safety action and local road safety plans to discuss lessons learned, successful approaches, common challenges and opportunities to strengthen the planning process. The Kansas Infrastructure Hub will complement these perspectives with insights into the federal grant application process, including what can make an application compelling, common pitfalls and how communities can position their safety plans and projects for future funding opportunities.

Bios

Jason Fizell is the contracts & operations specialist for the Kansas Infrastructure Hub. He most recently served as housing development liaison and directed the Kansas emergency rental assistance program at Kansas Housing. Previously, he served as the business development manager at the Sunflower Foundation, development manager at the St. Francis Health Foundation, executive director of the Kansas Land Trust and district director for U.S. Representative Nancy Boyda (KS-02). Jason holds a bachelor's in history of science and environmental history from the University of Kansas.

Anthony Gallo is a transportation engineer with Kimley-Horn who specializes in safety planning and using novel data sources to drive decision-making. He has supported more than a dozen communities across Kansas with safety action plans or local road safety plans, and he currently serves as the consultant project manager for the statewide Drive To Zero Plan implementation. He is a licensed professional engineer in the state of Kansas and a certified Road Safety Professional. He holds a bachelor's degree and master’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Virginia and resides in the Kansas City metro area with his wife, two daughters, and two corgis. 

Saumik Masud, EIT, Ph.D., is a traffic engineer at JEO Consulting Group, supporting traffic safety studies for state DOTs — including KDOT, NDOT and SDDOT — and local/municipal agencies. His work specializes in combining machine learning, crash analysis and the safe system approach to identify high-risk locations and develop targeted countermeasures. He earned his doctorate in civil engineering from the University of Kansas, focusing on driver behavior and advanced driver assistance systems.

Moderator: Haley Dougherty, KDOT

Speakers: Philip Nelson, Cody Ward, Dale Kirmer

Kansas and KDOT are leveraging real-time technology to provide timely safety information directly to the traveling public. This session will highlight innovative applications including HaulHub for work zone notifications, HAAS Alert for emergency and roadway incident alerts, AVL/Plow Location Tool for winter weather operations and KanDrive for traveler information. Presenters will discuss how these tools improve driver awareness, support safer decision-making and provide actionable information about changing roadway conditions.

Bios

Philip Nelson brings more than 25 years of dedicated service and hands-on experience with the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT). He began his career as an equipment operator, then stepped into the role of engineering technician. Today, Phil serves as a field maintenance administrator, where he provides statewide oversight of the CDL program, leads training initiatives in maintenance operations and supports strategic efforts that keep Kansas roadways safe and efficient.

Cody Ward has worked full-time for KDOT since January of 2002. Throughout his time with KDOT, Cody has worked on the construction side as an inspector and currently serves as the construction mentor/district 3 office coordinator.  

Dale Kirmer is a maintenance engineer for the Kansas Department of Transportation in the Bureau of Maintenance. He manages several programs such as road condition reporting to KanDrive, Road Weather Information System (RWIS) and weather forecasting services. Dale earned his engineering degree from K-State in 1992. He has over 21 years of experience with the Bureau of Maintenance and 34 years of service with the State of Kansas. 

Session details coming soon.

Session details coming soon.