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Jacqueline Gillan, Vice President, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety

Related Link: http://www.saferoads.org

Biography provided by participant

Jacqueline Gillan is Vice President of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety (Advocates), a coalition of national consumer, health and safety organizations and the major property and casualty insurance companies and trade associations.

Her professional career has been in the areas of highway and auto safety, surface transportation planning and government relations. She has worked in senior policy positions for the U.S. Department of Transportation, the United States Senate as well as three state transportation agencies (New Jersey, California and Ohio).

She is an expert and spokesperson in the national media on highway and auto safety issues and frequently testifies before the United States Congress and state legislatures. Her public policy and lobbying accomplishments have resulted in the successful enactment of numerous federal and state laws advancing motor vehicle and truck safety, strengthening impaired driving programs, requiring safety belt, child restraint and motorcycle helmet use, establishing teen driver programs, and increasing resources for highway and auto safety programs.

She serves on several boards of non-profit organizations. Because of her efforts and recommendations, the County Executive of Montgomery County, Maryland created a Pedestrian Safety Advisory Committee, which she chaired for three years. In March 2007 Ms. Gillan was presented the American Trauma Society Maryland Division's Distinguished Service Award for her contributions to reduce trauma and prevent injuries as a result of her legislative accomplishments. She also has been recognized for her legislative leadership by the Maryland chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

Gillan is a graduate of the University of California at Santa Barbara. She holds a master's degree in urban planning from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Recent Responses

November 2, 2009 07:47 AM

RE: How Can We Promote Greater Awareness Of Transportation Safety?

Driver distraction is a growing and serious problem on our nation’s highways. Our vehicles no longer are just a means of transportation but rather have become mobile offices, entertainment enclaves and telecommunications centers. Safety groups like Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety (Advocates) and others have been concerned for years that the rapid introduction and unchecked use of in-vehicle electronic communication devices regularly distracts drivers from the driving task. Rather than being complacent about the risks and dangers of multi-tasking in the car while driving, the American public for the most part has been kept in the dark about the…  Read more

July 15, 2009 03:24 PM

RE: How Do We Modernize Transportation For An Unknown Future?

Time is of the essence in approving and funding a major push in surface transportation legislation to renew and advance our highway and rail infrastructure needs. Upgrading existing highways and tackling our badly degraded national bridge system across all levels of government is now a genuine crisis that must be engaged and resolved as quickly as possible. These conclusions have been reached independently by two major Congressionally-mandated study commissions in the last two years, as well as by research institutions and state transportation organizations. The U.S. has fallen behind because key features of our surface transportation system have been allowed to continue…  Read more

February 11, 2009 03:30 PM

RE: How Will We Pay For The Transportation System We Need?

There are many new (and old) ideas being proposed for funding our nation's surface transportation system but regardless of what approach is taken there are some life saving and money saving strategies that need to be adopted by Congress in the reauthorization bill. Increasing safety has the potential to offset increasing revenues for families who are paying the exorbitant economic and social costs of motor vehicle crashes. These specific strategies will reduce the financial burden on families regardless of what financing method or combination of methods are implemented. Prevention may not be sexy, but it works.  Since the 1980s the…  Read more

February 3, 2009 02:23 PM

RE: Which DOT Programs Or Projects Could Be Axed?

  Highway and auto safety programs have not been sufficiently funded for years. A lack of adequate resources is one of the reasons essential lifesaving vehicle safety standards languish at the agency for years and decades. Motor vehicle crashes cause 99% of non-fatal transportation injuries and 94% of transportation deaths yet the annual budget for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) represents about one per cent of the entire U.S. DOT budget.  Clearly, any budget savings my fellow bloggers identify and recommend should immediately be transferred to bolster the NHTSA budget, particularly the motor vehicle safety programs which have been starved. Here…  Read more

December 10, 2008 03:36 PM

RE: How Should The Infrastructure Stimulus Be Spent?

A first class transportation system is measured not only by how quickly or easily you arrive at your destination but whether or not you arrive there safely. Although our nation’s highway system has created mobility opportunities that are the envy of the world it has resulted in a morbidity and mortality rate that is not a source of pride.    A major investment in transportation infrastructure is a top priority of President-elect Obama but so too is health care and the environment. Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death and injury for all Americans between the ages of 3 and 33. In…  Read more
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Latest response: Robert GreensteinNovember 20, 2009 3:38 pm