The Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) has been awarded nearly $3 million in grants from the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety (GOHS) to fund important programs aimed at reducing traffic fatalities and injuries across the state.
The Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) was awarded $2,862,037 from the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety (GOHS). These competitive grants are provided to DPH from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and administered through GOHS.
“This long-standing, unique partnership between Highway Safety and Public Health helps promote a safer Georgia,” said Kathleen E. Toomey, M.D., M.P.H., commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Health. “This programmatic support has made a difference for Georgians and continues to save lives and prevent injuries.”
The funding from GOHS acknowledges the success of programs in Georgia that are essential to protecting public health.
- $1,844,197.05 to the Injury Prevention Program’s Child Occupant Safety Project (COSP) that promotes safe transportation of children throughout Georgia. COSP provides child safety seats and education for local caregivers through the car seat mini-grant program, active in more than 140 counties, as well as training specific to healthcare professionals, law enforcement, emergency medical services, firefighters, and childcare providers.
- $220,534.30 to the Office of Health Indicators for Planning, which processes Death, Population, Hospital Discharge, and emergency room (ER) visit data. Data are made available to DPH on a departmental data warehouse and are published on OASIS, a web-based query system providing public access to Motor Vehicle Crash information on Deaths, Population, Hospital Discharges, and ER visits (reporting using data tables, trends, charts, and maps).
- $377,753.86 to the Injury Prevention Program’s Crash Outcome Data Evaluation System (CODES), a project that brings together multiple agencies to identify opportunities for crash prevention by linking and analyzing crash, vehicle, and behavioral characteristics to medical and financial data. The CODES group also produced the Georgia Traffic Safety Facts (GTSF) and the Georgia Traffic Safety Quick Facts for the identified Georgia emphasis areas.
- $211,955.39 to the Injury Prevention Program’s 55+ Driver Safety Program. This program is a resource for drivers over 55 to help maintain their mobility, mental and physical acuity, and lifestyle as they age. The program offers presentations, workshops, and events, including the Yellow Dot Program, CarFit, and an annual symposium on safe driving and aging.
- $207,596.48 for support of GEMSIS (the Georgia Emergency Medical Services Information System) upgrades and linkages, as well as tools to measure the time to definitive care, especially for trauma patients. The GEMSIS database is the only statewide source for pre-hospital care information. The GEMSIS Upgrades grant will support efforts to improve the completeness and accuracy of patient care information.
“Innovative projects like these are designed with the intent for Georgia and our nation to reach the realistic goal of zero traffic deaths by the middle of this century,” said Allen Poole, Director of the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety. “Each life saved on our roads is one less family that will have to live with the pain of losing a loved one whose life was taken from them in a traffic crash that was completely preventable.”
The grant year for this award is October 1, 2025, to September 30, 2026.
In Georgia, there were 1,615 motor vehicle traffic fatalities in 2023, a decrease of 10% from 2022, but still ranking Georgia fourth in the number of fatalities in the nation. Unrestrained passenger vehicle occupants of all ages are nearly 6.4 times more likely to be fatally injured compared to restrained occupants. Almost half (47%) of those who were fatally injured were unrestrained at the time of the crash.
For more information about injury prevention, visit https://dph.georgia.gov/health-topics/injury-prevention-program or https://www.gahighwaysafety.org/.
