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Travelers Institute’s Guide to Distraction-Free Driving
A deep dive into the latest topics associated with Distracted Driving with special guest Jessica Kearney (Assoc. VP at Travelers Institute)
State Legislation for Distracted Driving

Listen to this podcast episode by our hosts, Navnita and Srijani, to be informed on the distracted driving laws of 10 states in the US. These states include Georgia, California, Minnesota, Kansas, Kentucky, New Mexico, Florida, Texas, Louisiana, and Montana.

The Pandemic and Driving Safety
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Distracted Driving Legislation and what the general public can do to get involved
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Distracted Driving Prevention and the impact of a Distraction Free Life
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Autonomous Vehicles and Distracted Driving

A discussion of the connection between autonomous vehicles and distracted driving with Dakota Medina and Nikhil Kori of the Shreya R. Dixit Memorial Foundation.

COVID, Distracted Driving, and Autonomous Cars with Mike Hanson
MIKE HANSON: I currently serve as the Director for the Minnesota Department of Public Safety-Office of Traffic Safety and I also serve as the designated Governor’s Highway Safety Representative. I was appointed to my current position in October of 2017. Prior to being appointed as the Director of the Office of Traffic Safety I was employed with the Minnesota State Patrol. I retired in 2017 with nearly 35 years of law enforcement experience. During my tenure with the State Patrol I worked in several areas of the State primarily in the Marshall, Minneapolis, Detroit Lakes, and Thief River Falls Districts. I retired as the District Commander for the West Metropolitan District. I have specialized in a several areas of service including as a crash reconstruction specialist, DWI and SFST trainer/instructor, Mobile Field Force Co-commander and as an IACP Leadership training facilitator. I am passionate about traffic safety issues and public safety services.
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Minnesota Public Safety with Paul Aasen
Technology Revisited With Nina Hersher

Nina Hersher is CEO and Co-founder of the Digital Wellness Collective, a global trade association of Digital Wellness experts and organizations collaborating to enhance human relationships through the intentional use and development of technology.

Hersher is an international speaker and leading expert in Digital Wellness, holding a specialized MSW from Washington University in St. Louis in Norms of Connectivity and Reconceptualizing Human Development in the 21st Century,  and holds additional credentials as an Oasis in the Overwhelm Facilitator, Teen Outreach Program Facilitator, and Meditation Teacher. 

Hersher specializes in Digital Wellness seminars, retreats, and advising tech companies. Hersher is a core teacher on the first Digital Wellness Certificate course and is Founder of Evolving in the Digital Age™ Consulting, dedicated to best practices in mental health in a fast-paced world. 

Most recently, Hersher’s work was featured at Spotify and in publications including The Stanford Social Innovation Review, Al Jazeera, and Voice of America.

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Government & Public Initiatives With Mark Ritchie

Former Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie for decades has been a member of Global Minnesota, a nationally known nonprofit that promotes international education.

At 67, he has been named its new president.

Ritchie holds a master’s degree in public affairs from the Humphrey School of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota, and serves on several boards, including the Minnesota Military Museum, Minnesota Historical Society and Lifesource. In 2000 and again in 2016, he won the Twin Cities International Citizen award. He was named a 21st Century Game Changer in Voting Rights by the NAACP. In 2011, Ritchie won the Dwight David Eisenhower Excellence in Public Service Award from Sister Cities International.

Ritchie’s leadership experience spans government, nonprofit, education and advocacy organizations. In addition to creating a public-private partnership to host a World’s Fair on health and wellness in Minnesota, he served as an endowed chair in agricultural food systems for the University of Minnesota.


Today, Global Minnesota offers a broad portfolio of programs, including professional exchanges, K-12 education programs, discussion groups and public events. In 2017, Global Minnesota engaged thousands of Minnesotans with people and programs from 115 countries, including a group of 91 Fulbright scholars who traveled to Minnesota to study food security, meeting with local nonprofits, corporations and farmers.

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Technology with Susan Reynolds

Susan Reynolds has over 20 years of experience in digital wellbeing, mindfulness and youth leadership.

From 1985 to 2003, she was an Engish and social students teacher, curriculum developer, and first Director of Academic Technology at the Fenn School in Concord, MA. She taught her students to develop critical thinking and cooperative learning skills to be forward thinking citizens in the digital age. In 1997, she founded ABC Legacy with programming focused on harnessing the positive aspects of technology while mitigating the negative ones.

In 2019 she co-founded LookUp.live, a nonprofit sparking a social movement among Gen Z to discover and implement their own solutions to combat digital overload and 24/7 connectivity for greater tech/life balance and improved mental health. In partnership with the Magnuson Center for Entrepreneurship at Dartmouth College, LookUp.live hosts LookUp StartUp competitions on university competitions.

Susan teaches, speaks, leads workshops and facilitates panels to educate and empower Gen Z to find and implement their own solutions to the detrimental aspects of social media and digital distraction. As a speaker at conferences in Copenhagen, London, and Toronto, she’s brought her mission to a global audience. She offers in-services, assemblies and conferences to education professionals through Massachusetts Partnerships for Youth and schools.

Since graduating with a BA from Dartmouth College and M.Ed from Tufts University, Susan brings her commitment to inspiring youth to thrive through mindfulness as a certified yoga and .b Mindfulness for teens educator. She’s volunteered for Yoga Reaches Out, TextLess Live More, and iBme Teen Mindfulness Retreats, and most uniquely when she taught yoga to 300 teen girls at a nunnery in Myanmar.

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Distracted Driving with Colonel Langer
Colonel Matt Langer has been a Minnesota State Trooper since 1999. He began his career in the St. Paul station where he worked the afternoon shift.
He spent more than four years on the Metro Crash Reconstruction Team where he reconstructed hundreds of fatal and serious injury crashes. He was the director of the State Patrol’s fleet and asset management section before assuming public information duties. As a Captain, he directed public information work, homeland security efforts, and traffic safety grants.


He served for two and a half years as the Assistant Chief and one year as the Acting Chief before being appointed Colonel, Chief of the State Patrol, in January 2015.
 
Colonel Langer has a master’s degree in public and nonprofit administration, as well as a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and law enforcement. In addition to his work at the State Patrol, he holds adjunct faculty positions at Century College and Metropolitan State University.


Mission: Protect and serve all people in the state through assistance, education, and enforcement; provide support to allied agencies; and provide for the safe, efficient movement of traffic on Minnesota’s roadways.  Read the patrol’s strategic plan for 2016 to 2019.
 
Vision Statement: The Minnesota State Patrol is a progressive law enforcement agency providing superior service to Minnesota’s residents, visitors, and allied agencies. We strive for excellence in all that we do through the development of forward thinking leadership, technology, innovation, and a quality workforce.
 
State Patrol Core Values: 

Respect, Integrity, Courage, Honor, Excellence
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ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Welcome to the Distraction-Free Life Podcast

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