October 2023 Group Watch: Governor Awards Grants to Promote Highway Safety
Governor Kay Ivey awarded $3.5 million in grant funding to the University of Alabama, Auburn University and the Alabama Department of Public Health to be used to make the state’s highways safer. The University of Alabama will receive $2.23 million to provide traffic data through the Alabama Center for Advanced Public Safety and the Alabama Transportation Institute. The data will help determine areas with a high number of traffic crashes and driving infractions. Police and state troopers will use the information to increase patrols and monitoring in those areas. Auburn University will receive $1.2 million to produce multi-media campaigns, involving radio, television, digital, billboard and print publications, to coincide with national highway campaigns to increase seat belt use and reduce impaired driving and speeding. The media campaigns will be geared toward demographics and areas based on information from the Alabama Center for Advanced Public Safety. The Alabama Department of Public Health will receive $60,000 to contract with a firm that tracks injuries and deaths in traffic crashes throughout the state. This information helps complete the Alabama Center for Advanced Safety Reports. These grants are administered by the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs, and funds are provided by the U.S. Department of Transportation National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
