Welcome to Home Safely, a podcast from the National Center for Rural Road Safety—where we put rural road safety in the driver’s seat. Each episode, we bring you stories, strategies, and solutions that are helping communities across the country make their roads safer for everyone. Whether you’re behind the wheel, designing the road, setting policy, or just a community member, you’re part of the journey—so let’s work together and get everyone home … safely.
Jeff Pulver is the Assistant State Traffic Engineer for MaineDOT. In his current position, he contributes to several areas including traffic operations, speed management, safety, traffic studies, and ITS. He achieved a Professional Traffic Operations Engineer (PTOE) certificate in Spring 2026. In this episode, Kevin talks with Jeff about rural Maine roadways and the State’s systemic approach to meeting the safety needs of multiple modes.
RESOURCES
As a managing partner at Banyan Collaborative, Jay Otto brings a rare combination of engineering discipline and behavioral science expertise to some of today’s most complex organizational challenges. He specializes in helping communities and organizations create lasting, positive change by understanding how mindsets and systems shape the way people act and make decisions. Jay’s approach is grounded in decades of research and practical experience, drawing on his background as a former principal scientist and research center co-director, translated into structured, actionable roadmaps for navigating adaptive challenges. His current work centers on Banya Collaborative’s Improving Outcomes Framework (IOF). In this episode, Kevin talks with Jay about the role of human behavior in rural traffic safety and how organizations can promote a road safety culture that saves lives.
RESOURCES
Holly Kostrzewski is an international keynote speaker from a frontier rural community who is also a traumatic brain injury survivor and traffic safety specialist. In this episode, Kevin talks with Holly about her personal story and how it connected her to become a supporter of Tribal, State, and federal transportation safety programs. They discuss the Safe System Approach in the rural context, and some steps rural and local agencies can take to improve their transportation systems.
Countermeasures That Work: An Introductory Resource for Rural Communities
Vic Lund is a traffic engineer at the Saint Louis County, Minnesota Department of Public Works. In this episode, Kevin talks with Vic about identifying opportunities to reduce crash risk by assessing risk factors. The conversation also delves into the local road safety plan planning process and what it means to be proactive in rural road safety.
Nick Parr is the director of the Boone County Highway Department in Indiana. In this episode, Kevin talks with Nick about his decades long experience in rural road safety and how his department has evolved over the years, now regularly identifying opportunities to implement the Safe System Approach.
Jack Sullivan is the director of training for the Emergency Responder Safety Institute (ERSI). In this episode, Kevin talks with Jack about the vulnerabilities involved with responding to crashes and the methods and tactics responders use to be vigilant. Jack also talks about the impact of ERSI on improving the general standard approach to responding to crashes.
Carrie Brown is the program manager for Nevada Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP) and the director of the Western Tribal Technical Assistance Program (WTTAP). In this conversation, Kevin talks with Carrie about the local and Tribal road system experience and innovations that have significantly improved data collection. The conversation also touches on the cultural-historical impact of governmental partnerships on the Tribal approach to roadway safety.
Matthew Enders is the Technical Services Manager for the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) Local Technical Assistance Program and oversees the State’s traffic engineering safety group. In this conversation, Kevin talks with Matthew about the challenges of Washington’s rural roadways and how WSDOT met those challenges through comprehensive efforts such as road safety plans, the systemic approach, and being proactive.
Amanda Austin is the Roundabout and Alternative Intersection Design (RAID) Lead for Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). In this conversation, Kevin talks with Amanda about TxDOT’s roundabout initiative and why roundabouts are crucial to saving lives on rural roadways.
Crystal Shelnutt is the Regional Trauma System Development Manager at the Georgia Trauma Care Network Commission. In this conversation, Kevin talks with Crystal about what post-crash care is, its challenges, and what the Commission is doing to advance post-crash care in Georgia.
Jaime Sullivan is the director of the National Center for Rural Road Safety. In this conversation, Kevin talks with Jaime about what the center is, its work, and the unique challenges faced by transportation practitioners in rural areas across the country.
