Check out our new Drive Well Vermont website!

Phones Down, Heads Up: Drive Distraction-Free

Distracted Driving is any activity that diverts attention from driving.

Why it Matters:

Practicing engaged driving shows that you care about your own safety as well as the safety of your family, friends, and community. Give driving your full attention.

What Can You Do?

• Put your cell phone away, out of sight and out of reach.
• Program your phone to send auto-responses that tell your friends and family you are driving and not able to answer the phone.
• Stay focused on your driving and what’s ahead of you.
• Be aware of other motorists around you.
• Pre-program your GPS, or plan your route before leaving.
• Choose your podcast or playlist ahead of time.
• Eat your snacks before leaving the house, or take a break during a long journey to have a meal.

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.