The City of Carrollton Municipal Court received a 2024 Municipal Traffic Safety Awards Honorable Mention in April from the Texas Municipal Courts Education Center (TMCEC).

The award is given to a municipal court in recognition for outstanding accomplishments in the areas of traffic safety and impaired driving prevention and is part of TMCEC’s annual Municipal Traffic Safety Initiatives (MTSI) grant competition which is funded by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT).

“We are extremely proud to have received this honorable mention,” Presiding Carrollton Municipal Court Judge Meredith Lyon said. “Our court staff works diligently to educate the community on the dangers of impaired driving, and they have done a fantastic job of making sure that the educational materials they provide are age appropriate.”

The team focused on outreach to youth with an emphasis on providing families educational tools in English and in Spanish to facilitate meaningful traffic safety conversations at home. The goal was to inspire positive change and encourage citizens to think about their choices and commit to practicing safe, healthy habits.

MTSI applicants are judged on the innovativeness of the organization’s activities and offerings that relate to increasing traffic safety while preventing impaired driving, traffic crashes and fatalities, juvenile DUI, child safety seat offenses, red light running, and other traffic related violations.

“Growing a safer community is a group effort,” Juvenile Case Manager Kristen Conner said. “It is imperative we help everyone understand their role is important and provide families with the tools to succeed in speaking to their children about drugs, alcohol, and traffic safety.”

The large amount of free information available from TMCEC, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), National Center for Safe Routes to School, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the 2Young2Drink initiative through the Texas Alcohol Beverage Commission (TABC), and the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), enables the team to distribute free materials at numerous local venues with a minimum expense.

Municipal Court’s partnerships in 2023 with other City of Carrollton departments proved an invaluable aid to the traffic team’s efforts and enabled the message to reach Carrollton residents at various City events that the team had not interacted with before.

At Carrollton’s Future Public Employee Day in July 2023, the team spoke about the roles of Court clerks and traffic safety, and encouraged families to talk to their kids about back-to-school safety and the dangers of drugs and alcohol at the Library’s Back-to-School Bling event in August. Working with Carrollton Parks & Recreation Department in October, the team reached almost 3,000 families at several Halloween-themed events by handing out information and reflective zipper tags to bring home the importance of wearing bright, reflective clothing when trick-or-treating.

During Municipal Court Week in November 2023, the traffic team kept a table stocked in the court’s lobby area with free materials for all ages. Nearly 100 third-grade students from McCoy Elementary visited the City for a field trip and City Marshals spoke about court operations, courtroom security, and traffic safety from a police officer’s perspective. In December 2023, the traffic team ended the year making safety presentations and speaking to more than 400 attendees of all age groups at Spanish-speaking Coffee with a Cop and UNIDOS community engagement meetings.

“Municipal Court’s Traffic Safety Team works tirelessly to increase awareness and believes their efforts will have an impact on the community now and in the future,” Carrollton Court Administrator Cristina Rodriguez said. “Receiving the MTSI award is only one step in an ongoing effort to expand awareness of the effects that drugs and alcohol have on a person’s motor skills and cognitive decision-making ability.”

Award recipients were recognized at TMCEC’s Municipal Traffic Safety Initiatives Conference held April 3-5 in San Antonio. For more information about the Carrollton Municipal Court, call 972-466-3348 or visit cityofcarrollton.com/courts