T. Bella Dinh-Zarr, Ph.D., MPH, an unwavering advocate and leader in global roadway safety, received the 2023 James J. Howard Highway Safety Trailblazer Award for tirelessly dedicating her entire career to safer streets and saving lives.
Dinh-Zarr’s significant accomplishments began early in her career, as she worked to bridge the gap between public health and transportation through her research at the University of Texas School of Public Health and the Texas A&M Transportation Institute. For her Master’s in Public Health, she conducted one of the first injury prevention systematic reviews in the United States with the Cochrane Collaboration. And for her Ph.D., she was a key member of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention team that conducted and published a systematic review of the effectiveness of seat belts for the critically acclaimed Guide to Community Preventive Services. After leaving academia, she made stops at both the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and AAA, where she worked on domestic traffic safety/injury prevention policy and advocacy.
While at AAA, and working closely with the AAA Foundation, Dinh-Zarr conducted policy analysis on a wide variety of traffic safety topics, including occupant protection and safe mobility for older people. She was a key developer of CarFit, with colleagues at AOTA AARP, and AAA’s Roadwise Review, both still in use today. Dinh-Zarr was appointed to the 2005 White House Conference on Aging, where she supported safe transportation and mobility being named two of the top fifty priorities chosen by delegates representing US States and Territories.
After amassing an extensive list of accomplishments at both NHTSA and AAA, she joined the FIA Foundation, a London-based international charity working to ensure safe and healthy journeys for all. Dinh-Zarr returned to the U.S. in 2015, having been nominated by former President Obama to join the National Transportation Safety Board, where she served as a Member, Vice Chair and Acting Chair. During her tenure at the NTSB, she used her platform to elevate traffic crashes and their resulting deaths and injuries as a public health epidemic. Dinh-Zarr testified and supported enactment of the first state law in Utah to lower the per se Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) limit from .08 to .05. Her advocacy for lower BAC limits played a role in Utah’s BAC law and has influenced legislatures and legislators in other states to consider and introduce similar bills.
After leaving the NTSB, Dinh-Zarr continued to advocate for this lifesaving legislation by founding the .05 Saves Lives Coalition. In 2021, she re-joined the FIA Foundation, in a partnership with the Traffic Injury Research Foundation, as Senior Advisor of Public Health and Transportation, where she focuses on the intersection of public health, transportation and good governance with the goal of safe, clean and fair transportation for all. She is also proud to work with the Blackfeet Nation and the East End District (Houston, Texas) on Vision Zero and a community-guided safe systems approach for road safety. Throughout her distinguished career, wherever she has worked, Dinh-Zarr has left a long record of accomplishments and an even longer list of colleagues and collaborators who are thankful for her contributions to traffic safety.