Duluthian Gets State Honors For Work With Towards Zero Death Program

A Duluthian was recently the recipient of a state award for her work to save lives through improved traffic safety.  Allison Nicolson from Essentia Health/St. Mary's received the honor from the Minnesota Toward Zero Death (TZD) Program at a recent conference in the Twin Cities.  Nicolson won the Education Star Award.

The collateral information released by TZD had this to say about her work:

Nicolson was honored for leading a broad range of traffic safety efforts in northeast Minnesota, including her substantial work to help create the Twin Ports JOYRIDE program and increase the number of safe rides home from 284 in 2015 to nearly 2,000 in 2018, coordinate mock crashes at areas schools and the Safe Kids NE Minnesota Coalition, help parents and others as a child passenger safety instructor, and numerous other efforts that improve traffic safety through education and community engagement.

Established 15 years ago, the Toward Zero Death program is an interdisciplinary partnership between the state departments of health, transportation, and public safety.  Since its inception, the program has worked to reduce roadway fatalities by 45%.