There are those times in life my friends where an organization can actually pause and celebrate the positive aspects of those things which they work so hard to do. For those of us here at Respondersafety.com, this is truly one of those times.

We have been in business since 1999 working hard to reduce and eliminate highway-related injuries and deaths within the fire, police, EMS, and the towing industry. Our primary weapon has been education. We have also worked to inject the highway safety aspects of what we do into a variety of codes, standards, and federal regulatory areas.

As you know, there is really no way to ever assess the actual number of lives which our efforts may have saved. However, the time has come to pause for a moment and celebrate the fruits of our labors.

Let me begin by commenting on the fact that our efforts within the area of influencing states to adopt Move-Over Laws has been most successful indeed. Nearly every state has such a law. During my travels around the country I have noted the impact of these efforts as I watched both cars and truck move to the left as they traveled past emergency vehicles operating with their warning lights activated. It is pleasing indeed to see such things.

Since were are so deeply involved in the world of education, it is especially pleasing indeed to note that our Respondersafety Learning Network hit the critical tipping point of 10,000 registered users. This goal was reached at the beginning of March. I want you to know that we are not content to rest on our laurels. Our goal is to reach a total of 35,000 registered users by the end of 2014. We then intend to double that number over time. A lofty goal to be sure, but one we are working hard to achieve.

On another note, our presence was recognized at the Tampa 2 Life Safety Conference was held from March 10 to 12. This meeting was held in order to revisit the 16 Life Safety Initiatives which were created back in 2004. Steve Austin, our Executive Director, reported that one of the recommendations which was accepted at the meeting was to provide traffic incident management training to every member of the fire service. This is truly something for our association to celebrate.

Unfortunately I was unable to attend to the Tampa sessions because I had to be in Henderson, Nevada presiding over the Annual General Meeting of the U.S.A. Branch of the Institution of Fire Engineers. We were hosted by our friends at the Center for Public Safety Excellence. Not want to miss an opportunity to get the word out, Bruce Varner and I spoke on the issue of training our fire service to operate in the highway operational environment. We too got the word out.

Let me close by mentioned that our team will once again be heading out to Indianapolis to fly the Responder Safety.com flag at the Fire Department Instructor's Conference (FDIC). This is an excellent opportunity to provide our message to the people who are charged with teaching the best practices to their fire and emergency service organizations. Let me assure you that I will be out there with my friends working to get the word out.

It has been an extremely long and difficult winter. Spring is just around the corner (or at least it is supposed to be). Do not let your guard down. We must all work to keep our people safe out there on the highways and byways of our nation.