TORONTO—On Tuesday, June 10, the Ministry of Transportation (MTO) held its 2013 Road Safety Achievement Award ceremony at the historic Vaughn Estate at the Estates of Sunnybrook in Toronto. This awards program was created in 1996 to recognize the outstanding contribution of individuals, organizations and community groups who work to improve the safety of Ontario’s roads.
The Road Safety Achievement Awards are held annually to recognize leadership, dedication and commitment to reducing motor vehicle collisions, injuries and deaths on our roads in six categories of excellence which include: Road Safety Achievement, Professional; Road Safety Achievement, Volunteer; Media Excellence in Road Safety; Corporate Leadership in Road Safety; Road Safety Partnerships and Road Safety Initiative of the Year.
An independent panel of judges was assembled to evaluate all nominations that included representatives from government, public health and injury prevention disciplines and reviewed and evaluated the nominations based on pre-determined criteria.
In the professional category, Manitoulin Ontario Provincial Police detachment Constable Allan Boyd took home this honour.
The Road Safety Achievement Award in the professional category recognizes an individual’s leadership, dedication and creativity in the field of road safety promotion. This award is given to an individual involved with road safety in a professional capacity who has made a significant contribution to road safety through community initiatives, public education, research or the influence of policy, a press release from the MTO states. This individual has demonstrated strong community leadership and mobilization in the area of road safety.
Constable Allan Boyd, who is the community services officer with the OPP’s Manitoulin detachment, was nominated by Serena Verboom, a public health nurse with the Sudbury District Health Unit and co-chair of the Manitoulin Injury Prevention Coalition. In her nomination submission, she said “Allan promotes road safety across the lifespan—he reaches each age sector with his messaging.” He has demonstrated this through his involvement with child car seat clinics and education campaigns, First Rider programs that teach young school bus passengers important safety rules, School Bus Patroller programs that train senior students to promote school bus safety to their peers as well as a variety of initiatives that are delivered in schools across the Island.
Constable Boyd also hosts a daily radio broadcast to discuss all things road safety—from impaired and distracted driving to avoiding wildlife collisions and providing tips for aging drivers.
Ms. Verboom also said in the nomination, “On Manitoulin Island, summertime is vacation time and Allan works every weekend on the Island to promote road safety, whether it’s a festival or a fair, or any other community event—Allan is there.” Constable Boyd has spent his entire policing career on Manitoulin Island and has forged many strong partnerships. “Allan is the road safety leader on the Island and he has made a real difference for all of us.”
Constable Boyd received his award from Heidi Francis, the Assistant Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Transportation’s Road User Safety Division. He was accompanied by his wife Judy and his son Shawn.
“This award came as a big surprise, and I am very humbled to have been nominated and selected for the award,” Constable Boyd said in an interview last week. “It is a humbling experience to be recognized by your peers who you work with in the community—it’s the highest honour you can achieve. But I am just one spoke in the wheel among all the other community partners who work tirelessly—they are all at least equally deserving of this award. I share this award with all the members of the Manitoulin Injury Prevention Coalition. In my awards acceptance speech, I also thanked my wife Judy for all the sacrifices she has made over the years so I could go out and participate in all these programs and attend summer events.”
“Highway safety is one of the OPP’s top priorities,” Detachment Commander Staff Sergeant Kevin Webb told The Expositor following Constable Boyd’s award. “It is well documented that proactive patrols, RIDE and traffic enforcement save lives. The community also plays a significant role in highway safety and in some cases partnerships are forged with police through local organizations such as the Manitoulin Injury Prevention Coalition, MADD and Manitoulin Transport, to name a few. Constable Boyd is the glue that binds these partnerships and he is well known as the go-to guy in establishing programs and education.”
“We are proud of Constable Al Boyd and are pleased he has received this recognition for his exceptional commitment to public safety and the community he serves,” the Staff Sergeant said.
