It is my distinct pleasure to report that things here in the Respondersafety.com world simply could not be better. We are in the midst of what may be one of our most successful years. New programs continue to be developed, our reach is growing and our ability to train new highway safety people continues to improve.

We have flown the Cumberland Valley Volunteer Fireman';s Association (CVVFA) in a variety of venues. Over the past year we have been at the national conferences such as the Firehouse Expo in Baltimore, the IAFC';s Fire Rescue International in Chicago, and the FDIC in Indianapolis. We have also been at a number of state and regional conferences in Maryland, the Carolinas, New York, Virginia, Florida, Ohio and other places too numerous to mention.

Our prestige within the emergency service world continues to improve. A recent survey reported that Respondersafety.com and the Emergency Response Safety Institute (ERSI) Respondersafety.com Learning Network were a well-recognized source of highway safety training information. This is an important indicator of our nationwide reach within the emergency service world. In addition our influence within the towing community, DOT's and law enforcement continues to improve.

An important addition to our arsenal comes in the area of the training outreach instructors. Jack Sullivan, our Director of Training, has been traveling across the nation teaching a series of train-the-trainer programs in a Special Multidiscipline TIM Train the Trainer Course. One of the highlights of this program is that it brings together people from a variety of operational disciplines and trains them on how to work together to achieve a higher overall level of safety.

The National TIM Course is designed to establish consistent training of all roadway responders and achieve the three objectives of the National Unified Goal for Traffic Incident Management:

• Responder Safety
• Safe Quick Clearance
• Prompt Reliable Interoperable Communications

A milestone takes place at the National Fire Academy when at the National Fire Academy (NFA) in Emmitsburg, Maryland the TIM Train the Trainer Course is offered in a national forum for the first time. The audience for this program is Certified State Fire Service Instructors and/or Metro Fire Department Training Division Members as well as roadway incident trainers from other disciplines.

Let me now share some news on our latest program. We are participating in a series of podcasts with Jack Sullivan and others serving as content experts. These sorts of programs have been tailored to meet the needs and time constraints of an agency's in-service training programs. Podcasts can provide a great deal of knowledge in a timely and relevant manner.

It has long been our belief that the greatest impact that we can have on the fire, police, EMS, and towing communities will come through the creation of a number of well-trained instructors and advocates. These are the folks who have been trained to share.

Let us pause for a moment to ponder the phrase '15 year'.

Yes my friends, we have been laboring in the highway safety vineyards for more than a decade and a half. It seems like just yesterday that we gathered at the National Fire Academy to brainstorm the ways in which we might be able to address and have an impact on the problem of police, fire, and EMS personnel being struck on the highways and byways of North America. We have had our successes and we have had our disappointments.

We have continued to move forward, all-the-while remembering the goal of making the highway a safer place to operate. Please stay with us.