Jim Russell, age 36, Tallahassee. Assistant Chief of Police, Florida State University Police Department and Chair of the Leon County Multi-Agency DUI Strike Force. Jim is committed to increasing the number of seatbelt users in Florida and decreasing the number of alcohol-related fatalities and injuries. Jim knows that prevention education contributes to successful results and outcomes and he encourages Floridians to keep making responsible choices. Jim also knows that education initiatives such as S.A.F.E. are in critical need of funding in order to educate and drive home the message to young people. Rather than sit back and hope someone else would make it happen, Jim decided to take his commitment into his personal life and engage other First Responders who wanted to be part of the solution. He and his wife, Terri Sue Aldridge-Russell, developed the Ride for Survival as a visible and healthy way to build awareness and raise funds to help the 16-year-old, non-profit S.A.F.E. (Stay Alive From Education) Program deliver more Street Smart prevention education programs to high school and college students throughout Florida. These continued education efforts will help young people to increase seatbelt use, decreasing the number of impaired drivers and help prevent some of the 1,100 fatalities which occur in Florida each year as a result of alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes.
Terri Sue Aldridge-Russell, age 30. Prevention Professional. Terri Sue works in the substance abuse prevention field as a Prevention Director at a local non-profit substance abuse prevention and treatment center. She is also one of a dozen selected professionals to be trained and to serve as a Florida Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition Coach through the Department of Children and Families and The Florida State University’s Center for Prevention Research. She currently serves as the Chair of both the Leon County Community Traffic Safety Team, the University of Florida Leon County Extension Office’s Family & Consumer Sciences Advisory Council in addition to sitting on the Governor’s State Suicide Task Force. Terri Sue started promoting underage drinking prevention while a student at The Florida State University. As a FSU Housing Department Resident Assistant she organized a Street Smart program at her residence hall. Along with her husband, Jim Russell, Terri Sue developed the concept of riding one mile for every DUI victim in Florida as a means to raise awareness and much needed prevention funding for programs like SAFE’s Street Smart program. Terri Sue knows from experience that prevention is the key to saving lives—especially young people—and has turned her passion of helping others into a personal and professional endeavor to make her community safer. It is her goal that through the 180 SAFE Ride, communities across Florida will hear the vital facts and realities of drunk driving, underage drinking and the importance of wearing a seat belt, and then take action to make responsible choices that can save a life.
Cyclists:
Shawn Carroll, 42, Sarasota. District Chief, Tampa Fire Rescue and co-owner of S&F Properties. Any chance to raise awareness and money to support the S.A.F.E. program is important to Shawn. Time and again Shawn meets people who have experienced a tragic incident involving a drunk driver or seatbelts- either being saved by a seatbelt or in many cases, lives needlessly lost due to not wearing a seatbelt. His professional life exposes him to some of life’s darker moments. Shawn believes building awareness about S.A.F.E. through the 180 Ride can brighten the future for many young people and their families.
Karin Clausen, 37, Tallahassee. Investigator and Sergeant, Florida State University Police Department. Karin has seen many lives forever changed or lost because of impaired driving and the failure to wear seatbelts. With 18 years in law enforcement and the mother of a teenage son, Karin is also deeply committed to reaching as many young people and parents as possible. She is encouraging everyone to challenge friends and colleagues to make a donation online at www.180saferide.com to increase funding for Street Smart, S.A.F.E.’s gripping interactive program. Over the past 17 years, Florida firefighters/paramedics have donated their time and resources to present the life-saving education program to more than 100,000 young adults across the nation.
William “Billy” Poertner, 34, Tampa. Firefighter, Tampa Fire Rescue. In 1993, Billy’s younger brother was killed in a motor vehicle crash at the age of 17 after driving impaired. He and his family have firsthand experience with the overwhelming grief, pain and frustration that comes with losing a loved one in a preventable tragedy. Having recently completed Ironman Florida, Billy is converting the physical and mental anguish associated with cycling 1,100 miles into a positive vision for more young drivers and passengers to walk away from potentially fatal accidents because they made responsible choices. He contends that S.A.F.E. educates young people on two vitally important life-saving topics — seat-belt use and the real-life dangers of driving or riding with someone who is impaired. Billy is committed professionally and personally to saving lives and helping to prevent senseless tragedies.
Michelle Patterson, 34, Sarasota. Pharmacist. A cyclist for five years, Michelle is a two-time Ironman triathlete and has been a pharmacist with Wal-Mart for 10 years. She found out about the 180 S.A.F.E. Ride from her friend and fellow rider Shawn Carroll, and after meeting the rest of the team, “was hooked.” Michelle, who is a University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate, rides to support education, combining her love of athletics with the safety message. In September, she hopes to qualify for the grand daddy of Ironman competitions, to be held in Hawaii.
Bruce Doras, 48, Tampa. Lieutenant, Florida State Highway Patrol. As a trooper for 26 years, Bruce has served in Lee, Collier, Hendry, Glades, Charlotte, Sarasota, Manatee, Polk, Hillsborough, Pinellas and Dade Counties. Bruce has seen his share of arrests due to drunk driving and is a firm believer that aggressive enforcement and education can reduce the number of traffic fatalities and injuries. He is a long-time member of the Polk County Community Traffic Safety Team working on DUI details.
Georgia Northway, 29, Tallahassee. Warrants Clerk/Reserve C.O. Leon County Sheriff's Office. Prior to working in the warrants division, Georgia served as a booking officer where she became acutely aware of the devastation that a DUI can cause not only to the parents and family members of victims, but also to those who were charged with causing the death of others because of irresponsible decisions. She recalls booking a young man who was at fault in a DUI and now is in prison and mourning the loss of his best friend who died in the crash. This young man and Georgia’s young child are her motivators for the 180 S.A.F.E Ride, which she hopes will generate youth awareness for underage drinking and the need for everyone to buckle up when they get in a car.
Valeria Nolla, 21. Jacksonville. Student, University of North Florida. A sophomore with a major in biology/chemistry, Valeria is taking the time away from the classroom to raise awareness with her peers about the consequences of driving drunk. She wants to set an example to other college-age students and is taking to the road to support Street Smart. Fluent in Spanish, Valeria calls Sarasota home, having moved there when she was 16 from her native Peru. On a personal level, Valeria knows the grief that a DUI can bring after losing a teenage family friend to a drunken driver. Even though she’ll be taking her class work with her, it won’t be easy missing class for two weeks. But Valeria knows that bringing awareness to the program will be a great reward.
or mail to
Florida S.A.F.E., Inc.
4005 N. Orange Blossom Tr.
Orlando, FL 32804
Founder & Coordinator:
Terri Sue Aldridge-Russell, age 30. Prevention Professional. Terri Sue works in the substance abuse prevention field as a Prevention Director at a local non-profit substance abuse prevention and treatment center. She is also one of a dozen selected professionals to be trained and to serve as a Florida Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition Coach through the Department of Children and Families and The Florida State University’s Center for Prevention Research. She currently serves as the Chair of both the Leon County Community Traffic Safety Team, the University of Florida Leon County Extension Office’s Family & Consumer Sciences Advisory Council in addition to sitting on the Governor’s State Suicide Task Force. Terri Sue started promoting underage drinking prevention while a student at The Florida State University. As a FSU Housing Department Resident Assistant she organized a Street Smart program at her residence hall. Along with her husband, Jim Russell, Terri Sue developed the concept of riding one mile for every DUI victim in Florida as a means to raise awareness and much needed prevention funding for programs like SAFE’s Street Smart program. Terri Sue knows from experience that prevention is the key to saving lives—especially young people—and has turned her passion of helping others into a personal and professional endeavor to make her community safer. It is her goal that through the 180 SAFE Ride, communities across Florida will hear the vital facts and realities of drunk driving, underage drinking and the importance of wearing a seat belt, and then take action to make responsible choices that can save a life.
Shawn Carroll, 42, Sarasota. District Chief, Tampa Fire Rescue and co-owner of S&F Properties. Any chance to raise awareness and money to support the S.A.F.E. program is important to Shawn. Time and again Shawn meets people who have experienced a tragic incident involving a drunk driver or seatbelts- either being saved by a seatbelt or in many cases, lives needlessly lost due to not wearing a seatbelt. His professional life exposes him to some of life’s darker moments. Shawn believes building awareness about S.A.F.E. through the 180 Ride can brighten the future for many young people and their families.
Karin Clausen, 37, Tallahassee. Investigator and Sergeant, Florida State University Police Department. Karin has seen many lives forever changed or lost because of impaired driving and the failure to wear seatbelts. With 18 years in law enforcement and the mother of a teenage son, Karin is also deeply committed to reaching as many young people and parents as possible. She is encouraging everyone to challenge friends and colleagues to make a donation online at 
William “Billy” Poertner, 34, Tampa. Firefighter, Tampa Fire Rescue. In 1993, Billy’s younger brother was killed in a motor vehicle crash at the age of 17 after driving impaired. He and his family have firsthand experience with the overwhelming grief, pain and frustration that comes with losing a loved one in a preventable tragedy. Having recently completed Ironman Florida, Billy is converting the physical and mental anguish associated with cycling 1,100 miles into a positive vision for more young drivers and passengers to walk away from potentially fatal accidents because they made responsible choices. He contends that S.A.F.E. educates young people on two vitally important life-saving topics — seat-belt use and the real-life dangers of driving or riding with someone who is impaired. Billy is committed professionally and personally to saving lives and helping to prevent senseless tragedies.
Michelle Patterson, 34, Sarasota. Pharmacist. A cyclist for five years, Michelle is a two-time Ironman triathlete and has been a pharmacist with Wal-Mart for 10 years. She found out about the 180 S.A.F.E. Ride from her friend and fellow rider Shawn Carroll, and after meeting the rest of the team, “was hooked.” Michelle, who is a University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate, rides to support education, combining her love of athletics with the safety message. In September, she hopes to qualify for the grand daddy of Ironman competitions, to be held in Hawaii. 
Bruce Doras, 48, Tampa. Lieutenant, Florida State Highway Patrol. As a trooper for 26 years, Bruce has served in Lee, Collier, Hendry, Glades, Charlotte, Sarasota, Manatee, Polk, Hillsborough, Pinellas and Dade Counties. Bruce has seen his share of arrests due to drunk driving and is a firm believer that aggressive enforcement and education can reduce the number of traffic fatalities and injuries. He is a long-time member of the Polk County Community Traffic Safety Team working on DUI details.
Georgia Northway, 29, Tallahassee. Warrants Clerk/Reserve C.O. Leon County Sheriff's Office. Prior to working in the warrants division, Georgia served as a booking officer where she became acutely aware of the devastation that a DUI can cause not only to the parents and family members of victims, but also to those who were charged with causing the death of others because of irresponsible decisions. She recalls booking a young man who was at fault in a DUI and now is in prison and mourning the loss of his best friend who died in the crash. This young man and Georgia’s young child are her motivators for the 180 S.A.F.E Ride, which she hopes will generate youth awareness for underage drinking and the need for everyone to buckle up when they get in a car. 
Valeria Nolla, 21. Jacksonville. Student, University of North Florida. A sophomore with a major in biology/chemistry, Valeria is taking the time away from the classroom to raise awareness with her peers about the consequences of driving drunk. She wants to set an example to other college-age students and is taking to the road to support Street Smart. Fluent in Spanish, Valeria calls Sarasota home, having moved there when she was 16 from her native Peru. On a personal level, Valeria knows the grief that a DUI can bring after losing a teenage family friend to a drunken driver. Even though she’ll be taking her class work with her, it won’t be easy missing class for two weeks. But Valeria knows that bringing awareness to the program will be a great reward.
