The task team will continue to promote the Safe Routes to School program that improves safety for children bicycling or walking to school. These programs are a multi-discipline effort that includes enforcement and engineering activities to improve the traffic environment around schools so children can safely bicycle or walk to school.

GDOT with the support of task team members will work collaboratively with the Intersection Safety and Roadway Departure Task Teams to assist and support local agencies to update or develop their Local Road Safety Plans to reduce the number of non-motorist fatalities on off-road systems. This includes providing them with technical assistance, crash data, safety audit data, and more that can help the local community target and prioritize efforts that may include construction, education, and enforcement.

Develop and implement a targeted “Three Foot Passing Law” campaign that will increase awareness that motorists must give bicyclists three feet of space between the bicycle and a vehicle when overtaking a bicyclist on the road.

Continue to support and promote Share the Road programs and media campaigns to increase drivers’ awareness of bicyclists on the roadway to improve the safety of all road users.

The task team will continue to work with law enforcement to increase compliance with appropriate traffic laws by both bicyclists and motorists. Law enforcement will address multiple contributing factors that include speed, distracted, and impaired enforcement, which may reinforce safe driving behaviors and reduce the severity and frequency of collisions as well as promote bicycle safety.

GDOT will employ roadway design and intersection solutions that improve bicycle safety. This may include shared lane markings, paved shoulders on roadways with higher speeds or traffic volumes, rumble strips to protect the bicycle lane, bicycle signs that are compliant with Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD), and alternative intersections that incorporate bicyclist road users.

Support and advocate for the use of the “Bicycles May Use Full Lane” signage (R4-11) to be placed in roadway segments with high bicycle crashes. The placement of the signs will alert motorists that may be used on roadways where no bicycle lanes or adjacent shoulders usable by bicyclists are present and where travel lanes are too narrow for bicyclists and motor vehicles to operate side by side.

Require all Region 10 personnel to conduct safety audits to keep pace with the ever-increasing number of new carriers in the new entrant program.

The MCCD will conduct public education and awareness activities in order to raise awareness of drivers of all ages and social groups of their responsibility to share the roads safely on Georgia’s highways. These activities target the general public and teen drivers concentrating on “Share the Road”, “Leave More Space”, and distracted driving including use of cell phones while driving.

The MCCD will focus traffic enforcement on crash causative behaviors: speeding, following too closely, distracted driving, improper lane use, improper turns, improper passing, failure to obey traffic control devices, seat belt usage, and any type of impaired driving.

Support media campaigns and educational outreach events that include messaging to raise awareness on Georgia’s Hands-Free Law. Provide educational materials to specific groups (courts and judges).

Train and work collaboratively with law enforcement on various contributing factors of motor vehicle (MV) crashes including distractions

Collaborate with the Georgia Department of DDS to enhance driving exams to be more Comprehensive.

Conduct an annual statewide Distracted Driving observational study.

Identify infrastructure improvements such as the Off-System Safety Program; work with FHWA to develop Local Road Safety Plans by local governments and install roadway rumble strips to alert drivers.

The law enforcement IDTT members will conduct high visibility enforcement and sobriety checkpoints in locations where impaired-driving crashes and fatal crashes have frequent occurrences. The purpose of checkpoints is to deter driving after drinking by increasing the perceived risk of arrest.

To combat drug-impaired driving, the law enforcement IDTT members will employ drug recognition experts (DREs) to assist in investigating potential drug-impaired driving cases, especially during high visibility enforcement (HVE) activities, sobriety checkpoints, and when responding to serious injury and fatal crashes.

The law enforcement IDTT members will begin their pilot phlebotomy program that allows officers with specialized training to draw blood for investigative purposes. The timely collection of evidence in an efficient manner, can increase the DUI convictions and decrease the number of alcohol or drug-related crashes, serious injuries, and fatalities. This initiative will also support the use of municipal and county EMS personnel for blood collection.

The IDTT members will work with the Department of Revenue – Alcohol and Tobacco Division, to develop training on underage consumption for alcohol vendors. Additionally, law enforcement officers will conduct compliance checks among distributors of alcohol, to reduce the likelihood that alcohol vendors sell alcohol to underage people.

The legal-focused IDTT members will continue to provide trainings to law enforcement, prosecutors, and judges to provide them with information and support needed to increase the number of alcohol convictions in the state and reduce the number of plea agreements or diversions. This includes enabling law enforcement to obtain DUI search warrants with fewer obstacles.

The members of the IDTT will continue to support the mass media campaigns and outreach activities regarding alcohol-impaired driving.

The health education and prevention IDTT members will continue to work with the Department of Education and the Department of Public Health to determine how to incorporate DUI prevention in the health curriculum for teens.

The IDTT members will continue to support the data collection and research efforts related to the current Georgia DUI laws and programs to determine the effectiveness and identify solutions. The task team will continue to use real-time data to identify high-risk locations where alcohol or drug related crashes may occur.

In Georgia, nearly 50% of roadway fatalities occurred on local roads and 83% of these roads are maintained by local agencies (87,542 mi of county roads). The task team will continue to assist and support local agencies to update or develop their Local Road Safety Plans to reduce the number of roadway departure and intersection-related fatalities specific to the needs of their community. This includes providing them with technical assistance, crash data, safety audit data, and more that can help the local community target and prioritize efforts that may include construction, education, and enforcement.

The task team will continue to utilize the best available practices and treatments that will benefit all roadway users that includes pedestrians, bicyclists, older drivers, young drivers, etc. The roadway departure task team will use countermeasures like retroreflectivity, lighting design, curve signing, delineation treatments, high friction surface treatments, rumble strips, signage, and more. The intersection safety task team will use alternative intersection countermeasures like restricted crossing U-turns intersections, median U-turn intersections, double crossover diamond interchanges, and more to reduce the number of intersection crashes, injuries, and fatalities.

The task team will continue to use real-time data to identify high-risk segments or intersections that can be improved.

Improve highway safety through rider education, training, and a public awareness effort. The aim of this initiative is to promote motorcyclist safety and ensure that quality and consistency of training across all training sites.

Communications and outreach campaigns will be designed to increase other drivers’ awareness of motorcyclists using the “Share the Road with Motorcyclists” messaging. Additionally, campaigns will be built around “Motorcycle Awareness Month” in May and in the riding seasons.

Collaborate with law enforcement to detect and sanction alcohol-impaired motorcyclists during the riding season, awareness week in areas that have the highest motorcycle alcohol-related crashes.

Provide parents and other caregivers with “hands-on” assistance from Child Passenger Safety Certified Technicians with the installation and use of child restraints in an effort to combat widespread misuse. In FY 2022-2024, the task team will expand these programs to regions that have high rates of unrestrained serious and fatal injuries among child passengers and target the high-risk demographic with high car seat misuse and low-belt-use.

Support high-visibility enforcement programs that combine communications, education, and outreach strategies. In FY 2022-2024, the task team will continue to promote the media campaigns related to seat belt and child restraint use while implementing community-based programs, other outreach events, and support high-visibility enforcement efforts.

Support law enforcement in their high-visibility communications and outreach efforts by training them to be Child Passenger Safety Certified Technicians. In FY 2022-2024, the task team will continue to train technicians in regions with Traffic Enforcement Networks (TEN) and where other law enforcement grantees and other partners are based.

The 55+ Driver Safety Task Team will participate in multiple CarFit educational events offered by the Georgia Department of Public Health’s 55+ Driver Safety Program. The CarFit Program works with participants to ensure they “fit” their vehicle properly for maximum comfort and safety. During the event, information and material on community-specific resources that could enhance their safety as aging drivers, and/or increase their mobility in the community, will be distributed. First responders and law enforcement are trained to become CarFit technicians and coordinators. The 55+ Driver Safety Task Team will utilize a modular curriculum to adapt training based on a particular segment regarding aging, driving, mobility and other related topics.

The 55+ Driver Safety Task Team will develop and promote communication tools with a unified, accurate message to the general public. Education materials will inform older drivers of the risk of driving and help them assess changes in their driving capabilities. The education materials include brochures, self-assessment tools, fact sheets, presentations, and other materials.

The 55+ Driver Safety Task Team will offer training for traffic engineers, municipal planners, and other transportation professionals to review, examine and plan roadway features, structures, and signage for the safety of, not only aging drivers but all road users. This includes supporting the highway designers and engineers to improve the designs of pedestrian crossings, signage, intersections, interchanges, roadway segments, and construction/work zones, and highway-rail grade crossings.

The 55+ Driver Safety Task Team will collaborate with the DDS Medical Review Unit and certified driver rehabilitation specialists to track the number of medically at-risk older drivers with a suspected need for reevaluation that entered the process. The 55+ Driver Safety Task Team will continue to educate law enforcement, physicians, and family, friends, and caretakers on the medical review process. The 55+ Driver Safety Task Team will also create comprehensive packets of community resources that not only includes information regarding the medical review process, but also safe alternatives to mobility and independence related to the aging population (i.e., public transportation safety and pedestrian safety).

The task team will continue to promote the safe routes to school program that improves safety for children bicycling or walking to school. These programs are a multi-discipline effort that includes enforcement and engineering activities to improve the traffic environment around schools so children can safely bicycle or walk to school.

GDOT will employ roadway design and intersection solutions that improve pedestrian safety and target education, enforcement, and engineering measures in areas and among the demographic where significant portions of the pedestrian crash problem exist. Roadway and intersection solutions include marked crosswalk, pedestrian signaling, road diets, speed feedback signs, roundabouts, signs that are compliant with Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD), and more.

Continue educational and awareness campaigns such as the “See and Be Seen,” that focus on enhancing conspicuity for pedestrians and increase the opportunity for drivers to see and avoid pedestrians. This includes dissemination information regarding protective gear that includes lighting and retroflective materials (shoes, backpacks, wristbands, and/or clothing).

Work collaboratively with the Georgia Department of Driver Services to include pedestrian safety questions within the driver education manual and/or on the knowledge test examination.

Collaboration with the Young Adult Drivers TT to conduct educational campaigns at colleges/universities (particularly those with high non-motorist crash incidences) that communicate the importance of traffic and right-of-way laws, conspicuity enhancement, speed control, distracted driving, alcohol consumption, and other identified contributing factors.

The task team will continue to work and train law enforcement officers on the enforcement procedures of pedestrian and crosswalk laws. Law enforcement may also address multiple contributing factors that include speed, distracted, and impaired enforcement, which may reinforce safe driving behaviors and reduce the severity and frequency of collisions as well as promote nonmotorist safety.

The task team will continue to implement driver education for young students before licensure (high school students) by engaging schools and promoting statewide media campaigns. These programs include: Teens in the Driver’s Seat initiative, Student’s Against Destructive Decisions (SADD), Cinema Drive, and Driver’s Education Programs. In FY2022-2024, the task team will expand these programs to regions and high schools that have high rates of young drivers involved in motor vehicle crashes and high licensure.

The Shepherd Center in partnership with the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety developed the AutoCoach app that helps parents’ model safe driving behaviors for their teens. In FY 2022-2024, the task team will continue to promote the use of this app and support the Power of Parents workshop hosted by MADD Georgia.

Work collaboratively with enforcement and peer-to-peer programming such as SADD and Teens in the Driver Seat.