RALEIGH – The N.C. Governor’s Highway Safety Program has awarded more than $20 million in grants to local and state transportation initiatives that will help make North Carolina roads safer.
 
The Governor’s Highway Safety Program will administer 106 community-based grants during the upcoming federal fiscal year, which runs from this month through September 2023.

Lenoir Community College received a $54,000 grant for NCMSEP Quality Assurance Summer Update. This project trains regional motorcycle educators through a quality assurance team and the summer rider coach instructor update LCC Also received a $22,011 grant for the NC Motorcycle Safety Education Program Equipment/Personnel. This is an ongoing project to offer rider training to meet the needs of a growing population of motorcyclists.

“Last year marked the highest number of fatal crashes in our state in nearly 50 years,” said Mark Ezzell, director of the Governor’s Highway Safety Program. “These programs and partnerships will enable direct and tangible impacts when it comes to making North Carolina roads safer for all users.”
 
Grants are administered to a variety of initiatives targeting key traffic safety areas such as impaired driving, speeding, occupant protection, pedestrians and cyclists, motorcyclists, and teen and senior drivers. Grant recipients include local and state law enforcement agencies, nonprofit organizations, courts and state departments.
 
Initiatives that received funding will:

• Expand bicycle and pedestrian safety by funding a $244,896 grant to BikeWalk NC for the Bicycle Friendly Driver Program. This 1.5-hour, interactive course for drivers and cyclists details laws, infrastructure and crash avoidance.

• Combat distracted driving by providing $120,152 to University Health Systems of Eastern NC. The money will help expand distracted driving parent education and peer-to-peer education initiatives to several counties in Eastern North Carolina.

• Aim to reduce teen crashes. This initiative will use $130,113 to expand the Students Against Drunk Driving program to communities with a high number of teen crashes. The initiative will identify causes and solutions through a data-driven approach and build a network of peer-to-peer based student chapters to provide programming in those schools and communities.

• Create public awareness of traffic fatalities. A total of $272,900 will help fund the newly formed NC Alliance for Safe Transportation, a nonprofit designed to provide expertise on all traffic safety issues in North Carolina, especially those in historically underserved communities. This initiative will also establish a strong coalition of safe driving advocates, government agencies and public policy officials.

• Fund law enforcement efforts in areas of the state most impacted by drunk driving. This initiative will put $140,000 to pay for two new officers on the Lumberton Police Department’s DWI Team. Robeson County has the state’s fifth highest number of alcohol-related fatalities and the state’s fourth highest number of unrestrained fatalities. The new police officers will collaborate with other agencies and municipalities within Robeson County. In addition to enforcement efforts, the officers will educate teen drivers by giving seminars at local high schools and attending driver education classes.

 
Many of these grants are used as “seed money” to get programs started. In most cases, the grantee provides a portion of the project costs and is expected to continue the program after GHSP funding ends.