Delaware Water Gap National Park Service Employees Receive Traffic Safety Awards

BUSHKILL, PA- Superintendent John J. Donahue is pleased to announce that Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area has received the National Park Service Traffic Safety Coalition’s Highway Safety Champion Award for 2016. In addition, U.S. Park Ranger Aaron Millhench has been named the 2016 Traffic Safety Coalition Officer of the Year. “I’m very proud of our employees and it’s great to see them get the recognition they deserve for keeping visitors, commuters, and employees safe from impaired, distracted, and unsafe drivers on park roads,” said Donahue.
According to John K. Hughes, NPS Federal Law Enforcement Liaison and Traffic Safety Coalition program manager, “Each year the Traffic Safety Coalition searches out those parks that have made a positive impact within their respective communities by saving lives, promoting safe driving habits, and providing traffic safety education to the public and to employees while attempting to reach the NPS goal of “Toward Zero Deaths” on park roads. The program aims to save lives in our parks through enforcement, education, engineering, and emergency response. Motor vehicle crashes are the number one cause of deaths and injuries in national parks across the country. “This year, the staff at Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area has gone above and beyond the standard in saving lives and reducing injuries by removing impaired and distracted drivers from park roads through targeted enforcement patrols and by educating the public about safe driving habits through social media.”
Since arriving at Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area in March, 2016, Ranger Aaron Millhench has taken a lead role in highway safety operations and has issued over 100 citations for traffic safety violations including speeding, reckless driving, and distracted driving, more than any other ranger at the park. Since August, he has made 8 arrests for Driving Under the Influence (DUI) of drugs or alcohol, making park roads safer for everyone who uses them. Ranger Millhench also became a certified instructor for use of Standardized Field Sobriety Test (SFST) equipment and has trained other rangers in its use.