WTRMTR celebrates successes at fourth-annual banquet

The fourth annual Where the Rubber Meets the Road (WTRMTR) campaign banquet was held on Tuesday, Feb. 28 at the Wyndham Virginia Crossings Hotel & Conference Center.

The banquet was held to recognize local governments who have reached their goals through the award-winning WTRMTR campaign, which began in 2010 to address automobile losses, which account for about half of all claims in the pool.

In addition to awards, the banquet included a training session for WTRMTR instructors, complete with Defensive Driving Family Feud and Jeopardy.

Thomas Bullock as Family Feud host Steve Harvey

The program requires participating members to provide VMLIP-approved defensive driving training to at least 90 percent of all of their drivers within the first year of joining the campaign.   Every year thereafter, 50 percent of all drivers must receive instructional driver training.  Additionally, they must conduct annual DMV record checks, have a driver selection and retention program in place, and have and enforce a vehicle use policy.

This year, 40 instructors were provided with awards for having participated in the program since year one; 28 were awarded for participation since year two; nine were awarded for participation since year three; 17 were awarded for participation since year four; 14 were awarded for participation since year five; 14 were awarded for participation since year six; and three were awarded for participation since year three.

125 instructors were awarded, as well as six entities for achieving their 90 percent goal within the last year. These included the:

  • City of Franklin
  • Town of Ashland
  • Town of Smithfield
  • Town of Richlands
  • Northern Neck Regional Jail
  • Western Tidewater Regional Jail

By meeting the 90 percent goal these entities not only lower their insurance costs in terms of reducing risk but also receive a five percent credit on their auto coverage through the pool. Entities completing their first year training goals can continue receiving the 5 percent premium credit for continuing to train 50 percent of their drivers annually and maintain policy and program elements.

VMLIP provides the initial train-the-trainer instruction to members, as well as all of the training materials they will need to achieve their goals. The campaign was created with financial support from VMLIP liability reinsurance carrier CHUBB.

For more information on the campaign, click here.

View photographs in the slideshow below. Click the arrows on the side to navigate left or right.

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Riverside Regional Jail (2)
Alexandria Renew(2)
Smithfield Wayne Griffin and Josiah Jendrey
York County Schools Mitch Burnett, Tanya Deckard (2)
Western VA Water Randy Williams, Neil Norris, Ioana Kwei Tagoe
Valley CSB Tammy DuBose