Check out our new Drive Well Vermont website!

Pre-Holiday Season: Plan Ahead & Drive Sober

Impaired driving means being under the influence of alcohol or drugs while operating a motor vehicle.

Why it Matters:

When you drive impaired, you put yourself, your passengers, and other road users at risk of serious injury or death. There’s always another way to get home.

What Can You Do?

It’s simple—If you are drinking or under the influence of drugs, DO NOT DRIVE.

• Plan ahead. Use a designated driver or public transportation to make sure you arrive safely.
• Call a taxi, ride-hailing service, or a sober friend.
• If someone you know has been drinking or using an impairing drug, do not let that person get behind the wheel. Take their keys and help them arrange a safe ride home.
• If you’re hosting a party where alcohol or other substances will be used, it’s your job to make sure all guests leave with a sober driver.
• Always wear your seat belt — it’s your best defense against impaired drivers.

To learn more, visit NHTSA.gov. For Drive Well Vermont materials, click here. 

Grant Electronic Application and Reporting System (GEARS)

Click here to go to GEARS (for current subgrantees or agencies interested in applying for a grant with the SHSO). 

Operations and Safety Bureau Data Dashboard

Click here to see current crash data from the OSB Data and Analysis Unit. 

Our Mission Statement

Achieve progress “Toward Zero Deaths” by reducing the number of crashes, injuries, and fatalities on Vermont's roads and to provide highway safety data and fact-based analyses that will assist communities and safety advocates in implementing effective programs that will change high-risk driving behavior and increase safety on our streets and highways.

Where We Are Located

The Vermont State Highway Safety Office is located within the Agency of Transportation's Highway’s Division, Office of Operations and Safety Bureau, Dill Building, Unit A, 2178 Airport Road, Barre, VT 05641.

What We Do

The Vermont State Highway Safety Office (SHSO) awards federal highway safety grant funds to local, state and non-profit agencies for projects to improve highway safety and reduce deaths and serious injuries due to crashes. The SHSO is also involved with the Vermont Highway Safety Alliance (VHSA) which has allowed us to build upon a network of highway safety professionals, working in collaboration to increase highway safety through these federally funded programs.

The SHSO has an in-house staff of three Program Coordinators with specific subject matter areas of expertise, to include Occupant Protection, Distracted Driving, Impaired Driving, Law Enforcement (DUI and OP Enforcement) and Education Outreach programs. The staff of the SHSO manages state highway safety grant funds by providing guidance, oversight and monitoring for our partners. 

The programs administered through the SHSO are federally funded through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Our programs are defined and approved each year in the SHSO Highway Safety Plan (HSP) and align with the State’s Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP). Through these plans, we analyze data, identify problems, define emphasis areas, and set goals in order to administer funds to programs in a responsible manner in accordance with federal guidelines. 

The Vermont State Highway Safety Office programs are designed to educate drivers, passengers, pedestrians, bicyclists and motorcyclists about highway safety. Our programs employ the use of countermeasures that focus primarily on the modification of driver’s behavior and attitude.