About Us
PRG consists of the top researchers in the field of traffic safety. Our staff come from a variety of backgrounds including Experimental Psychology, Social Psychology, Sociology, Communications and Biology. Our diverse backgrounds lend to creative investigation of a wide array of traffic safety topics.
For general inquiries, please send mail to PRG@Preussergroup.com or our diversified staff can assist you on a variety of topics. Please contact the staff member whose activities are most closely related to your query or comment.
Our Staff
David Preusser
David F. Preusser holds a Ph.D. degree in Experimental Psychology from Yale University. He began working in the area of highway safety in 1971 as a member of the evaluation team for the Nassau County (NY) ASAP and participated in some of the earliest NHTSA research in the area of drugs and driving. He was the Project Director for the Elmira Seat Belt Enforcement and Publicity Program and a series of studies dealing with young driver licensing. He is currently the Principal Investigator for NHTSA projects dealing with Buckle Up America and sanctions for convicted drinking drivers. Dr. Preusser is on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Safety Research, is currently serving on NHTSA and TRB research committees, and is a member of the International Council on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety.
Mark Solomon*
Mark Solomon, Vice President, holds the M.S. degree in Sociology from Mississippi State University. He was a crash data analyst with the Florida Department of Highway Safety where he provided analytical support to the governor's office and legislature as well as state and local agencies. Since joining PRG, Mr. Solomon has studied crashes on the Washington DC Capital Beltway, interviewed truck dispatchers, studied fatal crashes involving air-bag and non air-bag equipped vehicles, and evaluated NHTSA's twenty-state belt use enforcement demonstration project. Currently, Mr. Solomon is directing NHTSA evaluations of belt use incentive grants awarded to more than forty states, Buckle Up America, Click It or Ticket in South Carolina, and the legislative change to primary belt use enforcement in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Oklahoma.
Neil Chaudhary
Neil Chaudhary, Vice President, holds a Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from the City University of New York (CUNY). While at CUNY, he taught statistics and experimental design and conducted research in the area of Terror Management Theory. Since joining PRG, he has analyzed national seat belt survey data and designed data collection plans for a study of suspended drivers in New York and newly licensed drivers in Tennessee. He has completed National Safety Council studies exploring the costs to Medicaid budgets for FL, MO, and VA. Neil is also involved in two separate projects for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety examining causes of crashes among elderly drivers, and among teen drivers. Neil has helped pioneer methods to allow nighttime seatbelt observations in all lighting conditions. He has completed 2 statewide nighttime seatbelt use surveys in CT and has evaluated a nighttime safetybelt enforcement initiative in Reading, PA.
Tara Casanova-Powell
Tara Casanova holds an MS in Population and Community Ecology from Southern Connecticut State University where she was employed as Adjunct Faculty. Ms. Casanova was also the director of a local research facility where her research was highly published and focused on ecology and population dynamics and distribution.
Robert Chaffe*
Robert Chaffe graduated with a BS in Engineering/Telecommunications from the University of Mississippi. Since joining PRG, Robert has assisted on NHTSA evaluations of widely publicized law enforcement programs used to improve safety belt usage and decrease drunk driving. Robert is currently assisting in a study for The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety tracking behavioral changes of truck drivers with respect to hours of service rules. Robert also manages PRG’s data entry team located in the Oxford Office.
William A. Leaf
William A. Leaf holds a Ph.D. degree in Experimental Psychology from Yale University. He taught statistics at Carnegie Mellon University; developed computer and statistical applications training for NHTSA; and applied statistical analysis to NHTSA and state crash files. Dr. Leaf also directed our teen longitudinal survey. High school freshmen in four states were surveyed by telephone at six month intervals throughout their high school years. The surveys provided detailed information, over time, concerning their learning to drive, licensing and driving experiences. Other current and recent projects include: a study of racial/cultural factors in pedestrian alcohol crashes; a survey of Florida parents and students concerning their new "Graduated Licensing" law; evaluation of graduated licensing in California; and evaluation of "voluntary" graduated licensing in Connecticut.
Katie Raboin
Katie Raboin (formerly Ledingham) graduated with a BA in Communications from Central Connecticut State University. She has two years of experience working for the Connecticut Department of Transportation, Division of Highway Safety. She worked on both state and federal projects which included Connecticut's 157 plan and evaluation (innovative belt use initiatives) for NHTSA, MADD youth education initiatives and public information and education outreach to various CT communities. At PRG, Ms. Raboin is now working on projects that involve seat belt use rates for Connecticut and New Hampshire, as well as Connecticut's sTEP Wave seat belt program.
William J. Nissen
William Nissen is a graduate of Michigan State University, and holds an MBA in marketing from New York University. He has extensive experience in market research and survey data collection and was formerly a product development manager for General Electric. Mr. Nissen assisted in the design and implementation of a telephone survey of New York drivers in support of the Thruway Buckle Up project. He also participated in a study of underage alcohol purchase and our evaluation of Community Traffic Safety programs and prepared case studies for a youth alcohol enforcement project for the Justice Department (sub-contract to the Police Executive Research Forum). Recently, he collected field data in support of studies involving the handling characteristics of tandem trucks, "red-light running," and false I.D. Mr. Nissen has conducted focus groups with SADD students and with motorists using the Capital Beltway. Currently, he is developing case study reports for our evaluation of Buckle Up America. He is also working on a project to evaluate some of the leading causes of certain types of crashes at intersections.
Julie Tison
Julie Tison obtained a Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from the City University of New York (CUNY) after getting her B.A. in psychology from McGill University in Montreal, Canada. She held a position as Assistant Professor at New York City College of Technology (CUNY). While at CUNY, she taught experimental methods, cognitive psychology and, industrial/organizational psychology. Before joining PRG, she did research on ambivalent attitudes, personality predictors of unhealthy/sedentary behaviors, and cultural differences in learning styles. Julie is currently involved in research for the National Academy of Sciences on technique to reduce speeding drivers.
Helen B. Weinstein
Helen Weinstein holds the M.S. degree in Science from Simmons College. She was elected to six successive two-year terms on the Trumbull (CT) Town Council where she has served as Chairman of the Finance Committee, Vice Chairman of the Council and Chairman of the Council. At PRG, in support of NHTSA and U.S. Department of Justice projects, she has conducted interviews with police officers, local program directors participating in child car seat distribution programs and state level traffic safety coordinators. Ms. Weinstein was the lead data analyst for our study of motorcycle fatal crashes, pedestrian crashes in Washington and Baltimore, car/truck fatal crashes, learning driver crashes and elderly driver crashes. Currently, for the Insurance Institute, she is conducting an analysis of crashes that occur at stop signs.
Joyce Wolfe
Joyce Wolfe graduated from Fort Hays State University with a MS in general/experimental psychology. She has extensive experience in program evaluation and survey research gained during previous employment with the Docking Institute of Public Affairs both as a research scientist and as manager of their Center for Survey Research. Prior to working for PRG, she was involved in a wide variety of survey research projects, and conducted evaluations of federally funded projects focusing on early childhood development, violence prevention, and alcohol, tobacco and other drug (ATOD) prevention. Currently Joyce is working on several projects for NHTSA including a project exploring medical outcomes of older persons injured in motor vehicle crashes. She is also analyzing media awareness data for NHTSA’s Next Generation of Click It or Ticket program. Joyce is a member of the American Evaluation Association and the American Association for Public Opinion Research.
* - PRG South