The Des Moines Area Regional Transit Authority (DART) has received the American Public Transportation Association’s “Gold Award” in the safety category among midsized transit agencies. Safety initiatives were evaluated on a wide array of criteria, including innovation, transferability, financial benefits and effectiveness as measured by performance statistics.  DART has made more than 50 safety improvements in recent years, including the hiring of a full-time safety manager; an intensified training program that focuses on the fundamentals of safe, defensive driving; tracking all incidents with criteria that judge preventability, not just liability; and recognizing and awarding the safe driving records of DART operators. DART’s accident frequency rate has improved to 1.02 per 100,000 miles this fiscal year from 3.47 per 100,000 miles as of August 2007, DART said in a news release.