State road safety honors go to 2 women

Two women who have worked tirelessly to make local roads safer were honored by the Governor's Traffic Safety Committee with the chairperson's award.

Wendy Tepfer, director of the nonprofit Community Parent Center in North Merrick, and Cindy Brown, who runs the New York Coalition for Transportation Safety based in Westbury, received the top honor Monday.

"These two women go above and beyond the call of duty . . . to help reduce injuries and fatalities on our highways," said Chuck DeWeese, assistant commissioner for the Governor's Traffic Safety Committee.

The award is given annually to an individual and a group, and this year, it was given to Tepfer and Brown and the Niagara County Sheriff's Office for road safety programs.

Tepfer, 61, of Bellmore, was one of the creators of the Driving in the Safe Lane program in 2004. The program, offered to schools throughout Nassau County, includes guest speakers and offers real-life driving scenarios for younger drivers. It aims to educate parents and teens about safety measures, New York State driving laws and parental liabilities. A version of the program is being held Wednesday during a State Driving Skills for Life event at Mepham High School in Bellmore.

"With motor vehicles crashes the leading cause of injury and death among teenagers today, Wendy has been the leading advocate in Nassau County to keep our students safe," Saul Lerner, the Bellmore-Merrick school district's director of driver education, athletics, health and physical education, said in an email.

Funded by state and local grants, the program is presented about 35 to 40 times a year.

"I was tired of reading about all these horrific tragedies," Tepfer said. "There had to be a way to reach out and educate them and prevent these tragedies."

Brown, 60, of Bayside, Queens, runs the New York Coalition for Transportation Safety, a nonprofit that is also funded by grants and promotes seat belt and child seat use as well as bicycle and pedestrian safety in Nassau and Queens. Brown has been involved with the organization since 1987.

"I had always done public-relations type of work and I had a brother who was very badly injured when he was struck by a drunk cabdriver -- that happened in Boston -- and that was one of the things that kind of prompted me," she said.