Tiff's Initiative
To Inform Families First

t was six.

On December 7, 2005 Tiffany Marie Olson, (22) and her friend Dustin C. Wilder (28) were on their way to a Bike Rally in a neighboring town when a driver failed to heed a stop sign and drove into the path of their motorcycle. Tiffiany died instantly at the scene of the accident. Dustin was Bay-flighted to a nearby trauma unit and died without family present.

The parents of these two young people were not notified immediately as to the whereabouts of their children because of a lack of emergency contact information.

This night of pain and heartbreak motivated Olson's mother to begin a petition for change in the state of Florida. She appealed to government agencies to make a simple change that would allow first responders To Inform Families First, (Tiff's Initiative) through the use of emergency in-vehicle computers and the swipe strip on the back of each Florida resident's driver's license or Florida I. D. card (available for anyone 5-years-old and up). State Representative Bill Galvano from Manatee County, FL and Steven Fielder, Department of Motor Vehicles in Tallahassee championed the cause.

Tiff's Initiative was enacted October 3, 2006 (a few days shy of the 10 month anniversary of the accident). Within the first month, 500,000 Florida residents had enrolled. As of May 2007, according to the Department of Motor Vehicle statistics), law enforcement had used the system 28,000 times to contact loved ones during a time of crisis.

If you're a Florida resident and would like to make sure your family's emergency information is current “in case” of an emergency; if you believe this program is something you'd like to pursue in your state; or if you would like to read more about Tiffiany's life and Christine's Journey visit www.ToInformFamiliesFirst.com and follow the prompts. "I cannot stress enough the urgency of getting your contacts into the system," said Olson, "accidents are not planned, they happen in the blink of an eye."