Roundtable Talk - Safety in Action: Educating Drivers on Emergency Scene Awareness

Following the death of his daughter Casey by a distracted driver in 2009 in Ocean City, New Jersey,  Mr. Feldman created  EndDD.org , “End Distracted Driving,” and has developed science-based distracted driving presentations, as well as other resources used by businesses, schools and community groups in educational initiatives. Mr. Feldman coordinates a network of volunteer speakers who have presented to more than 550,000 students across the U.S. and in Canada, all without cost to schools.

Mr. Feldman has personally given more than 1000 distracted driving presentations to more than 150,000 teens and adults since 2011. He has been the keynote speaker at a number of legal, medical, traffic safety and business conferences. Current projects include developing programs for elementary and middle school students and evaluation of distracted driving initiatives to maximize their effectiveness. He is a member of the NTSB’s National Distracted Driving Coalition, subcommittees  youth education, the annual “Do Not Disturb While Driving Day,” as well as the prosecution of distracted driving cases. He works with state highway safety offices on distracted driving and vulnerable road user educational programs.

Mr. Feldman is a Of Counsel to the Philadelphia law firm of Anapol Weiss.

After his daughter’s death, he obtained his masters in counseling from Villanova University and worked at Penn Wissahickon Hospice providing grief counseling to patients and family members. Mr. Feldman frequently combines law and counseling and speaks to lawyers, as well as community groups, on topics relating to grief and loss and has written articles on improving the dialogue of loss, supporting those who have suffered the tragic loss of a loved one and empathic listening.

He is a recovering distracted driver.

Mr. Feldman can be reached at jfeldman@anapolweiss.com

Todd Leiss is the founder of TIM Heroes, Inc., which promotes roadway safety public awareness and emergency responder safety. He also serves as the Deputy Director of Training for ResponderSafety.com. Previously, Leiss served over 23 years with the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission in traffic operations and incident management. He has also previously served as a volunteer firefighter, EMT, hazmat technician, and 911 dispatcher. 

Jack is a subject matter expert on roadway incident operations and emergency personnel safety and promotes proactive strategies and tactics for protecting emergency workers from being struck by vehicles. He was a volunteer firefighter and chief officer for 23 years and in 2018 retired from a 40-year career as a safety and risk management consultant for the public and private sector. Jack teaches Roadway Incident Safety & Survival Workshops for emergency responders for ERSI and he is a Master Instructor for the FHWA SHRP2 Traffic Incident Management Train-the-Trainer Workshops. Jack is also a Technical Member of the National Committee on Uniform Traffic Control Devices and currently serves as the Chair of the Task Group for Chapter 6i of the MUTCD – “Control of Traffic Through Traffic Incident Management Areas”.