About the award recipients

Ron Schafer, with Vulcan Materials, for Outstanding Achievement in the area of Employer Safety.
Ron Schafer is the Southside Driver Training Manager for Vulcan Materials. With 13 years of experience in the industry, managing a fleet of over 45 drivers among the hundreds of thousands on the road daily is a significant responsibility. To meet this challenge, Vulcan Materials invested in a sophisticated camera system for all CDL vehicles. This system monitors critical safety metrics, including speed, seatbelt usage, mobile device, or earbud use, following distance, rolling stops, near-collisions, and signs of drowsy driving. The success of this program relies on immediate accountability. If the camera picks up a drowsy or distracted driver, there is immediate voice activation to alert the driver. While all violations are reviewed, instantaneous drowsy driving alerts trigger a text for immediate intervention via two-way radio. All other incidents result in face-to-face coaching within 24 hours. Ron’s dedication has netted great results. In 2025, near collisions were down by 57%, observed cell phone use down 67%, unbelted drivers down 44%, and unbelted passengers were down 56%.

Officer Alberto Rosado with the Chesapeake Police Department for Outstanding Achievement in the area of Impaired Driving Prevention
Currently serving on the evening shift, this officer led all uniformed patrol officers in traffic stops in 2025. He completed an exceptional 986 stops—nearly six times the department average of 169. This level of enforcement activity reflects a deliberate focus on identifying hazardous driving behaviors, preventing collisions, and removing impaired drivers from the roadway before tragedies occur. Officer Rosado’s traffic safety efforts have produced measurable and meaningful results. His vigilance resulted in 15 DUI arrests over the past year. Each arrest represents a direct intervention that reduced the risk of serious injury or loss of life. Beyond enforcement, his consistent presence serves to reinforce the department’s commitment to protecting motorists, pedestrians, and the community at large.

Officer Justin N. Ford with the Virginia Beach Police Department for his work in Law Enforcement Initiatives
In 2025, Officer Justin Ford earned the title of top performer in the 3rd Precinct in Virginia Beach each month. Between April and August, he conducted 347 traffic stops. His efforts in May were particularly
noteworthy, as he issued 14 summonses for seatbelt violations. In July, he apprehended a robbery suspect who had also assaulted a convenience store clerk. His consistent high performance continued into the fourth quarter, where he executed another 636 traffic stops resulting in over 239 speeding tickets and 28 misdemeanor arrests. Beyond issuing traffic summonses, Officer Ford has shown remarkable skill in identifying and addressing criminal behavior during his traffic enforcement efforts, successfully seizing 10 firearms, a significant quantity of cocaine and marijuana, and over $3,000 in US currency. This dual focus on traffic violations and criminal behavior highlights his dedication to tackling both issues simultaneously.

Tammy “Gweedo” McGee for Outstanding Achievement in the area of Legal Initiatives
Through the Gweedo Memorial Foundation, established shortly after her son Conner’s passing, Tammy tirelessly addresses teen driver safety comprehensively, speaking locally and nationally. She also produced powerful educational videos—including a heartfelt account of her personal story. In 2025, Tammy traveled over 7,000 miles and reached over 12,000 students, a figure that does not include the many parents impacted by her story. Her work addresses roadway safety on every level; legislative, educational, technological, and cultural. Over the past six years, Tammy has helped lead the passage of eight significant pieces of legislation in Virginia focused on strengthening driver education, increasing transparency and oversight within driver training programs, improving accountability for those who enable unsafe or unlicensed driving, expanding supervised practice requirements for new drivers, and reinforcing the critical role parents and schools play in teen driver safety.

Traffic Cam Watch for Outstanding Achievement in the area of Messaging/Media
Traffic Cam Watch was created in 2021 by a dedicated group of volunteers to address a persistent gap in traffic safety communication. Traffic Cam Watch, owned by Akemi Mokoto, is designed to transform publicly available traffic camera footage into clear, contextualized safety messaging. The program curates’ real incidents and presents them with timestamps, geographic context, and explanatory narration. Traffic Cam Watch focuses on prevention rather than aftermath, emphasizing “how it happens” instead of “what happened.” Traffic Cam Watch has grown to more than 31,000 subscribers, generated over 20.5 million views, and accumulated 600,000+ watch hours, reaching audiences far beyond traditional safety campaigns. Traffic Cam Watch demonstrates how digital media can measurably enhance public roadway safety education.

Nicole Jones for Outstanding Achievement in the area of Occupant Protection
The Virginia Beach Fire Department (VBFD) car seat program has always been driven by a commitment to the high professional standards established by regional pioneers. However, as the demand for occupant protection grew, information was often fragmented, and technicians had to hunt for specific manufacturer manuals or recall data. Nicole, as the Car Seat Program Manager, recognized that to protect our most vulnerable passengers effectively, there was a need to move from a collection of individual efforts to a centralized, sustainable infrastructure. What makes Nicole’s approach different is her focus on building a professional “command center” for the department. She built a custom SharePoint resource from scratch that houses every technical manual, manufacturer recall, and certification record in one accessible location. This level of technical integration is rare in regional fire service programs. It has made the Virginia Beach Fire Department into a model of consistency for the entire Commonwealth.

Elizabeth River Crossings for Outstanding Achievement in the area of Youth Traffic Safety
Elizabeth River Crossings is a private company that operates the Downtown and Midtown Tunnels and the MLK Expressway in Portsmouth. In 2025, Elizabeth River Crossings sought to make a meaningful impact on youth road and traffic safety. Safety Town, located in Portsmouth, is a hands-on experience for children in kindergarten through third grade, featuring working traffic signals, miniature buildings, realistic intersections, crosswalks, and a fire truck. What was missing was a tunnel. To bridge this gap, Elizabeth River Crossings invested over $34,000 to build a realistic tunnel for children to experience. The goal was to make the structure as authentic as possible, featuring professional-grade concrete, paint, lighting, signage, and even jet fans. Through the 2 new large concrete element sections, children can experience the unique elements of a tunnel and learn the importance of obeying lane signs, speed limits, and safety protocols while driving through Elizabeth River Tunnels. The project also featured a custom mural of the Portsmouth landscape by local artist Seth Lubiton. Elizabeth River Crossings has made this safety feature accessible to all Portsmouth families to encourage safe driving in this unique environment. Elizabeth River Crossings annually invests over $200,000 in community impact grants and charitable donations.

The 2026 recipient of the John T. Hanna Lifetime Achievement Award: Maggie Haley
In 1987, Maggie Haley began a newly created position with the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles as the Manager of the Community Traffic Safety Program in Hampton Roads. One of her first priorities was to initiate and develop a community traffic safety program that integrated community input as a critical element of the program. Focusing on the Southside cities, Maggie convened representatives from various safety organizations, law enforcement, traffic engineering, and corporate safety personnel with a focus on Occupant Protection and Drinking and Driving Prevention.

The organization became known as the Concerned Citizens Advocating Traffic Safety (CCATS), the precursor to Drive Safe Hampton Roads. Maggie’s background in education provided needed insight into working with CCATS members and the community to build a coalition with a mission to decrease the incidence of crashes, injuries, and fatalities on the roadways. As a founding member of CCATS, as well as a current volunteer for DSHR, Maggie led the way, developing and building many programs such as the “Sell a Bike, Save a Life”, The Old, Used, Borrowed and Abused Child Safety Seat Roundup -which Drive Safe still does, Get It Together High School Seat Belt Challenge for which she is still a school liaison for, Intersection Connection, and Border to Border, just to name a few.

Maggie was appointed to the York County Transportation Safety Commission. As a commissioner, she provided traffic safety expertise as it applied to York County roadways and communities. She also served as the Chair of the Military/Civilian Transportation Safety Workshop and received its Lifetime Achievement Award. Maggie was one of the first certified Child Passenger Safety Instructors in Hampton Roads.