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Published on 10/10/12

UGA awarded grant to continue driver education programs

By Andrew L Turnage

The University of Georgia Traffic Injury Prevention Institute was awarded a $650,000 grant from the Georgia Governor’s Office of Highway Safety to continue its statewide education programs in the areas of child passenger safety, parent-teen driving safety and senior driver education.

GTIPI has partnered with the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety for the past 26 years in designing and delivering education that improves driver and passenger safety across age groups. GTIPI, an outreach initiative of UGA Cooperative Extension through the College of Family and Consumer Sciences, continues to be a leading resource in traffic safety training and education in Georgia, said Don Bower, UGA professor emeritus and GTIPI project director.

Grant will continue four training efforts

Through this year’s grant, GTIPI will offer its four main training and community education initiatives: the National Child Passenger Safety Technician Certification Program, Georgia Teens Ride with PRIDE (Parents Reducing Injuries and Driver Error), CarFit for senior drivers and the Online Safety Store. Each program area delivers adult education—for consumers, safety professionals and community volunteers—designed to address the most common causes of traffic injuries and fatalities for target age groups.

Law enforcement, emergency medical services, health departments, Extension educators, fire departments and others across the state participate in GTIPI’s training and distribute educational materials. Onsite training is conducted across the state at regional locations, as well as at GTIPI’s headquarters in Conyers.

Parents and young children benefit from safety professionals and volunteers who achieve national certification in the Child Passenger Safety Technician course.

Most car seats are installed incorrectly

“Even though child safety seats are used more than 90 percent of the time by Georgia parents, four out of five seats are installed incorrectly,” Bower said. “The National CPST Certification Course offered by GTIPI qualifies safety professionals and community volunteers to teach parents how to eliminate those installation- and use-mistakes."

GTIPI’s course, “Georgia Teens Ride with PRIDE,” is for parents and their new teen drivers.

“Car crashes remain the leading cause of death for teens, and more than two-thirds of teens who die in crashes in Georgia weren’t buckled up,” Bower said. “PRIDE trains instructors how to deliver safe driving tools to the community. PRIDE instructors help parents make it through the process of their teen getting a license without ‘losing their cool’ and help teens learn how to avoid crashes. PRIDE instructors equip both the parent and teen with accurate information about how to get and keep a Georgia driver’s license.”

Helping seniors stay safe

The national CarFit program helps seniors stay behind the wheel longer and more safely.

“CarFit is a non-threatening way to educate seniors about how to stay safe and comfortable in their cars as their physical abilities change with age,” Bower said.

The Online Safety Store is a partnership between the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety and GTIPI. Now in its sixth year of collaboration, the store is the primary source statewide for print and electronic traffic safety resources for safety professionals and consumers. GTIPI manages distribution of GOHS materials from www.georgiahighwaysafety.org.

For more information about GTIPI, traffic safety training programs or other traffic-related resources, see www.ridesafegeorgia.org or contact GTIPI at (678) 413-4281 or (800) 342-9819.

Andrew Turnage is the public information manager of the Georgia Traffic Injury Prevention Institute of the University of Georgia.

Authors:
Andrew L Turnage
Experts/Sources:
Don W. Bower
The Georgia Traffic Injury Prevention Institute (GTIPI) will offer four training and community education initiatives through this year's grant award.
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