It’s a wonderful time of the year. The time of year when we celebrate our accomplishments, consider our challenges, and join friends and family in welcoming the New Year. By the same token, celebrating the holidays also calls for balance between having fun and being mindful of the safety of our families and those around us. The Office of Highway Safety reminds us of how we can have a safe family holiday.

Super Bowl Sunday is only a few days away! Have you decided where you are going to watch Denver and Seattle go head to head? If your game plan includes cheering on your favorite team at a friend’s house or at a local sports bar, be sure to include a sober driver as the final play.

Did you know that motorists who use hand-held devices while driving are 4 times more likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves? It has become a common occurrence to see others talking on their hand-held cell phone or checking their smartphone while driving. You may even do it yourself. But there is more to Distracted Driving than just talking on a cell phone and texting.

Do you have plans to take a road trip this summer? Perhaps you will take in some of the local attractions, visit the beaches, or spend time with family and friends. No matter where you go or what you do, always remember to drive safely. The life you save may be your own.

Did you know that 4 out of every 5 car seats are not installed properly? For caregivers, it’s not always easy to know how to correctly secure a child in a car seat, or how to fit the seat into the car. That’s why Delaware is joining the rest of the nation to promote awareness during National Child Passenger Safety Week, September 14-20.

Did you know that Delaware crash data for this year suggests that speed and improper seat belt use are major contributors in the number of fatalities this year? And the numbers are up. It’s mid-October, and the number of traffic deaths this year has already exceeded the total number of people killed last year on Delaware roadways.

OHS wants to remind motorists as they travel this holiday season to buckle up, be patient and slow down, and always use a designated driver.

The Super Bowl is America’s most watched national sporting event. On Super Bowl Sunday, February 1, there will be lots of game day socializing that may include drinking. OHS and law enforcement officials are urging football fans to choose sides now: drinking OR driving.

You would never get into a roller coaster without putting on a seat belt, so why would you get into a car without wearing one? OHS wants to remind everyone that speed thrills but it also kills.

Would you ever ride a roller coaster without the harness? Would you let your friends or family? Of course not! Did you know that when you ride in a motor vehicle without a seat belt you are taking a similar risk? One you can’t afford. Once again, Delaware is joining law enforcement agencies nationwide to enforce seat belt laws during the annual Click It or Ticket campaign.

The Northern Ireland Assembly Committee for Infrastructure has today visited Belfast City Council where they heard from the Council, the Chamber of Commerce, Taxi Forum and the Roads Service.

ASHGABAT, 16 June 2016 – Officials from the Traffic Control Inspectorate of Turkmenistan’s Interior Ministry and representatives of a local public organization dealing with road safety discussed good practices for promoting road safety awareness at an OSCE-organized three-day seminar that concluded today in Ashgabat.

Shpresa Mulliqi from the OSCE Mission in Kosovo who conducted the seminar talked about the significance of the legal framework for traffic safety, the main factors influencing the road infrastructure and behaviour, including education and culture, as well as ways to raise public awareness about road traffic safety.

The seminar placed special emphasis on the involvement of children and youngsters in awareness-raising activities for pedestrians.

 “Promoting traffic safety is essential for guaranteeing the health and harmonious development of all citizens, including the youngest who represent a group of risk at roads,” said Radovan Znasik, Officer-in-Charge of the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat.

“Our seminar highlights the importance of awareness raising activities in ensuring traffic safety and we hope that the event will be of practical use for the relevant bodies of Turkmenistan as it is committed to upgrading its efforts in the area of promoting traffic safety and designing awareness raising campaigns.”

Participants exchanged views on the role of educational institutions, public organizations and media in raising public awareness on traffic safety. The seminar also covered the main content of traffic safety education, which includes general traffic safety knowledge, and the skills for analyzing and solving problems in traffic activities.

As part of the practical exercises, the participants developed traffic safety awareness messages for different target groups taking into account identified needs, the legal framework, the cultural context and financial implications.

Prior to the seminar, the OSCE expert visited the Traffic Safety School for Children of the Interior Ministry and was familiarized with national road safety campaigns.

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TASHKENT, 12 July 2016 – A three-day seminar for journalists to improve their skills in reporting on human trafficking, organized by the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan and the Office of the Prosecutor General, began yesterday.

The seminar brings together 26 journalists from all the regions of Uzbekistan to discuss the challenges of reporting on human trafficking and effective ways to overcome them by drawing on international and national good practices. “For better coverage of human trafficking, it is important to both see it as a global phenomenon and understand its specifics in your own country,” said Anatoly Verbin, an international media expert, addressing the media specialists.  

Ambassador John MacGregor, the Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan, said that OSCE anti-trafficking commitments include the cultivation of partnership with journalists to enhance their knowledge and understanding of the complexity of the phenomenon, which is a composite of many serious crimes as well as denials of rights. “Prevention of human trafficking cannot be effective if the media do not join us in raising awareness of this crime. The trafficked persons need understanding and assistance in restoring their rights, not moral accusations, judgment or pity,’’ he noted.

Gyulnoza Rakhimova, the head of the press service of the Office of the Prosecutor General, stressed that the training will cover current legislative and law enforcement practices, how to make the information more interesting for readers and not to violate the rights of victims of trafficking.”

The training is part of the OSCE Project Co-ordinator’s project to assist Uzbekistan in combating trafficking in human beings and to develop a comprehensive victim-support system through expert advice and information.

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Some 35 law-enforcement officers and social workers took part in the first in a series of five training seminars on anti-trafficking practices and procedures on 22 July 2016 in Kostanay with other workshops to be conducted in Almaty, Astana, Karaganda and Shymkent later this year.

The seminar focused on the criteria and standards for assisting victims of human trafficking, relevant national and international legislation, ways in which social exclusion and disenfranchisement make people vulnerable to trafficking, as well as re-socialization and compensation for survivors.

The series is co-organized by the Programme Office, in co-operation with the Health Care and Social Development and Interior Ministries as well as the US Embassy to Kazakhstan.  Representatives of the Akimat (regional administration) and Prosecutor’s Office also attended.   

The initiative is part of the Programme Office’s multi-year efforts to raise awareness and build the capacity of law-enforcement institutions and civil society in the field of anti-trafficking, in line with the host country’s commitments under international treaties.

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VIENNA / WARSAW, 29 July2016 – To combat human trafficking,  a comprehensive, co-ordinated and victim-centred approach that includes creating opportunities for regular and safe migration, as well as protecting the human rights of migrants, is urgently needed by all state actors, civil society and multilateral organizations, said senior OSCE officials today ahead of World Anti-Trafficking Day on 30 July.

Multiple and complex security challenges such as armed conflict, the spread of violent extremism and radicalization leading to terrorism and climate change, have recently pushed millions of people into mass, mixed migration flows throughout the OSCE region, putting an increasing number of  them at risk of being trafficked.

OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier emphasized that “effective and early identification of potential victims and the fight against the impunity of perpetrators need to be at the core of any resilient security governance strategy. This is particularly important within the context of mixed migration flows, which expose already vulnerable individuals to trafficking syndicates.”   

“Human trafficking is a grave violation of the human rights of its victims – human beings who are exploited, most often for profit,” said Michael Georg Link, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR). “A victim-centred approach, placing the protection of all human rights at the heart of efforts to prevent and end trafficking, is essential if we are to ensure that anti-trafficking measures do not further threaten the safety, dignity and rights of those we are responsible to help and protect.”

OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings Madina Jarbussynova stressed that crisis situations are placing strenuous challenges on already vulnerable groups within and around the OSCE region. “As we join the efforts of the United Nations on this World Day against Trafficking in Persons to raise awareness and promote the protection of rights and dignity of all, any protective measures should first and foremost be conducted in the best interest of potential victims, especially amongst irregular migrants, asylum seekers, internally displaced persons and unaccompanied minors.” Focusing on the complex nexus between trafficking and conflict situations, Ambassador Jarbussynova will on Monday start a week-long official visit to Ukraine to raise awareness of human trafficking threats.  

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BISHKEK, 30 July 2016 – To mark today’s World Day against Trafficking in Persons, the OSCE Centre in Bishkek supported a public awareness-raising campaign and held a public discussion with academic representatives in Bishkek and Osh.

On 29 July, in co-operation with the State Service on Migration, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and local partners, the OSCE Centre raised public awareness about the risks of human trafficking in Bishkek and Osh.

Information material such as pocket calendars with the hotline number and contact information of the Kyrgyz Embassies in the five top migrant destination countries were distributed among the public. Illustrated silhouettes of people, symbolizing victims of trafficking, were displayed on posters in public places with stories in the Russian and Kyrgyz languages narrating their experience of human trafficking.

“Public awareness campaigns play an important role in the prevention of trafficking in human beings,” said William Leaf, OSCE Senior Field Representative in Osh. “The OSCE works to assist the government in improving its education and outreach efforts at the local and central levels in line with its commitments to prevent and combat all forms of human trafficking.”

In addition to the awareness-rising campaign, today the representatives of five local universities in Osh participated in a roundtable discussion organized by the OSCE Centre in co-operation with the Centre for Support of International Protection. The discussion focused on the ways of promoting inter-disciplinary research efforts among students and professors on the scope, tendencies and root causes of human trafficking in southern Kyrgyzstan.  

“As trafficking in human beings is a complex phenomenon, it requires a multi-disciplinary approach, covering, among others, socio-economic, legal, migration, human rights, gender and law enforcement aspects,” said Akylbek Tashbulatov, Director of the Centre for the Support of International Protection. “The academic community have the necessary research potential and tools to positively contribute to the development of such an assessment.”

The events were organized as part of the OSCE Centre’s project on addressing human trafficking in Kyrgyzstan through grassroots initiatives and multi-agency cooperation.

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KYIV, 5 AUGUST 2016 –OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, Madina Jarbussynova, on Friday concluded an official visit to Ukraine aimed at raising awareness of human trafficking and the risks encountered by the most vulnerable groups as a consequence of the current crisis.

During her five-day visit, she met with representatives of the Donetsk Oblast state administration and female Internally Displaced People (IDPs) in Kramatorsk. Ambassador Jarbussynova also travelled to Kharkiv to talk to relevant civil society representatives about the situation on the ground, how to prevent the expansion of the conflict-driven human trafficking phenomenon, and to evaluate existing mechanisms of identifying, referring and assisting victims of trafficking in human beings.

“More than one-and-a-half million citizens have been displaced – a vast number that demands a comprehensive response,” Jarbussynova said. “This vulnerable group can easily find itself in situations where human trafficking may occur.”

In Kyiv, the OSCE Special Representative met with Ukrainian authorities to discuss progress in anti-trafficking measures and review future plans.

“The Government of Ukraine has recently demonstrated a high level of commitment to addressing human trafficking, particularly in enhancing its victim identification efforts and in filing cases to relevant courts”, said Jarbussynova.

At the same time, she noted that there are still considerable gaps in the National Referral Mechanism for victims, and that long-term, sustainable measures should be sought.

The Special Representative travels regularly to Ukraine, engaging with high-level authorities and holding training sessions together with the Special Monitoring Mission and the OSCE Project Co-ordinator to strengthen the capacity of the Ukrainian institutions and OSCE monitors to spot human trafficking trends and to report on alleged cases.

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The Berlin Conference is the first in a series of events planned as part of a two-year project by the Office of the Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings supported by the current German and incoming Austrian OSCE Chairmanships, and Switzerland.

This high-level event is part of the OSCE’s ongoing effort to raise awareness about the problem of labour exploitation in supply chains and to advocate for increased actions at the government level across the OSCE region with the aim of adopting measures to prevent and combat this form of modern day slavery.

Today’s globalized economy is characterized by complex supply chains of goods and services, with both materials and labour sourced from all around the world. It is difficult for buyers and consumers to be sure that the goods or services that they purchase or procure were not produced by trafficked labour. It is also difficult for large or multi-national companies to verify their own supply chains when there may be multiple tiers of subcontractors. Sometimes a parent company might not be aware of whether its sub-contractors down the supply chain unknowingly use or resort to the use of forced labour, including child exploitation and human trafficking. Inefficiently regulated recruitment and poorly inspected worksites, behaviour and practices conducive to corruption, lack of understanding of labour and human rights standards, as well as insufficient enforcement, constitute additional challenges in this field.

In order to address the problem of human trafficking in global supply chains, the Office of the Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings (OSR/CTHB) developed a project on Prevention of Trafficking in Human Beings in Supply Chains through Government Practices and Measures. The project aims to provide OSCE participating States with practical tools to enact concrete measures to prevent human trafficking in supply chains, as well as build their capacity to implement these measures. Project activities include capacity-building workshops and conferences, the publishing of Model guidelines on preventing trafficking in supply chains and developing a plan encouraging the adoption of the Model guidelines.

Some 35 law-enforcement officers and social workers took part in the first in a series of five training seminars on anti-trafficking practices and procedures on 22 July 2016 in Kostanay with other workshops to be conducted in Almaty, Astana, Karaganda and Shymkent later this year.

The seminar focused on the criteria and standards for assisting victims of human trafficking, relevant national and international legislation, ways in which social exclusion and disenfranchisement make people vulnerable to trafficking, as well as re-socialization and compensation for survivors.

The series is co-organized by the Programme Office, in co-operation with the Health Care and Social Development and Interior Ministries as well as the US Embassy to Kazakhstan.  Representatives of the Akimat (regional administration) and Prosecutor’s Office also attended.   

The initiative is part of the Programme Office’s multi-year efforts to raise awareness and build the capacity of law-enforcement institutions and civil society in the field of anti-trafficking, in line with the host country’s commitments under international treaties.

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Traffic intensity unit

Traffic intensity unit

YSTR.HTSA-overview - Overview of ICT based highway traffic safety assessment

General considerations for traffic measurement and options for international internet connectivity

Principles for a unified format of price/tariffs/rates lists used for exchanging telephone traffic

The measurement framework for the statistical indicators of website traffic

"AT&T Inc. has joined Hollywood studios and recording companies in trying to keep pirated films, music and other content off its network — the first major carrier of Internet traffic to do so," the LA Times reports. So customers will pay in added overhead and false positives, while filesharers adapt to evade the filtering (for both infringing and non-infringing traffic). Who wins? The sellers of filtering snake-oil tech, perhaps.

Location: Main Oversize- HQ281.G555 2014

Location: Engineering Library- TK5102.985.C83 2015

The federal Office of Personnel Management ordered federal employees to leave the office early on Monday amid Washington, D.C., area storm warnings. The severe storms covered most of the area with a tornado watch through 9 p.m., causing many places in the Beltway area to close early or adjust hours.

A new survey tells us that 63% of B2B marketers use website traffic as their primary metric for the success of their content marketing. It makes sense. The more people come to your website, the more people see your goods and services and the more chances you have to sell those goods and services. What’s […]

Undoubtedly WordPress has been excellently set up to get the best of Search Engine Optimization. That’s the reason why most of us are always reluctant to get away from the cozy comfort of WordPress and get the site hosted with third party. Also, transition to a third party means increased responsibility starting from the need […]

Blog traffic is not driven by new traffic; individuals driven by return clients. Your new traffic is going to be fluidic. One week you might have lots of new visitors, and the following weeks you may have very few at all. Your repeat viewers are the ones who are supposed in order to create up […]

When you’re a web designer, graphic designer, or similar professional in a creative field, you have two essential tools for attracting new clients: word of mouth and a stellar portfolio. The latter can be invaluable so it’s critical that you’re able to build a strong one and drive traffic to it. Neglect these tasks and […]

If you own or manage a website, you know that there a few key metrics that indicate success. And regardless of your industry or company goals, one metric is universal: traffic. The number of daily or monthly visitors your site receives is easy to measure, monitor, and report. It provides a simple way to look […]

“I want to increase traffic to my blog or website”- The very same question keeps on haunting all the business owners. It has kept me on my toes for a long while. Now, I thought to jot down all the very best strategies for increasing not only traffic but also qualified leads. Read them, share […]

SEO, or search engine optimization, is a buzzword these days. Lots of people know what it means; however, fewer understand what it all entails. Unfortunately, there’s not an Easy Button for boosting your website’s traffic, but there are some relatively basic steps you can take to start moving in the right direction. If you are […]

When Tina Berkett moved from New York City to Los Angeles in 2007, she immediately noticed the West Coast's creative spirit…

Chalking event adds a splash of colour to city streets.

'Rat run' fear over decision to open up street to through traffic.

The Safe Harbor Act is one of the four amendments Georgians will be voting on in next Tuesday's election. If it passes, the state will impose additional fees on those convicted of certain sex trafficking crimes, as well as adult entertainment establishments. That money will fund treatment and resources for victims of child sex trafficking.

CDOT warned that travel conditions could become “extreme to impossible” Friday and Saturday, expressing particular concern about I-70 east of Denver and I-25 south of Pueblo.

Stop your self-centered whining, and let’s get on with the job of building more badly needed housing. And thank the Kroenkes’ for investing in Denver’s housing stock.

The verdict comes after weeks of graphic testimony.

The police issued “538 tickets for various traffic offences during the last two weeks,” and “over 1000 vehicles were stopped during Roadside Sobriety Checkpoint exercises this past weekend.” A police spokesperson said, “With Operation Vega remaining in place, 538 tickets were issued for various traffic offences during the last two weeks. That’s up from 353 […]

The Government issued a traffic notice for the Somersfield Academy Fun Run and Walk in Devonshire Parish scheduled on Sunday [Sept 29]. A Government spokesperson said, “The Ministry of Public Works would like to advise the public that the Somersfield Academy Fun Run and Walk will take place in Devonshire Parish on Sunday, 29 September […]

The Ministry of Public Works has issued road traffic notices for the MAAC Beyond Fitness 5K and the Bermuda Triathlon Association Standard Distance National Championship Triathlon scheduled on Sunday [Oct 6]. A Government spokesperson said, “The Ministry of Public Works wishes to inform motorists and the general public that two significant athletic events are scheduled […]

Part of Harbour Road in Paget Parish will be closed between 10:00am and 12:00pm today [Sept 19] to “allow for the placement of a crane to extract a submerged vehicle from Hamilton Harbour.” Bermuda Police Service Statement A police spokesperson said, “Please be advised that between 10:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. today, efforts will be […]

More than $10,000 will be “contributed to government’s coffers by traffic offenders following yesterday’s and today’s plea court sessions,” the police noted. In an online post, the police spokesperson said, “Slightly more than 10,000 dollars to be contributed to government’s coffers by traffic offenders, following yesterday’s and today’s plea court sessions. “Fines were handed down […]