DeKalb County Receives a Grant from the State for Pedestrian Safety

The DeKalb County Board of Commissioners accepted a grant of $25,880 from the Georgia

Governor’s Office of Highway Safety. DeKalb County Fire Rescue (DCFR) will use these funds for pedestrian safety education and pedestrians and drivers’ education on the risks associated with pedestrian injuries and fatalities.

The program will target approximately 1800 pedestrians and school-aged drivers, as well as approximately 600 adult and senior pedestrians and drivers, who will be identified using analysis of DCFR’s historical data related to incidents involving pedestrians. Program recipients will be reached through various types of educational sessions at schools, libraries, senior centers and by working with municipalities and our community partners.

DCFR’s strategy will involve developing a comprehensive, skills-based curriculum that will educate pedestrians and drivers on the risks associated with pedestrian injuries and fatalities. Target audiences will be identified using analysis of DCFR’s historical data related to incidents involving pedestrians. Program recipients will be reached through various types of educational sessions at schools, libraries, senior centers and by working with municipalities and our community partners.

According to the Georgia Department of Transportation, DeKalb County has 200 miles of Urbanized Interstate/State Routes, 1,628 miles of Urbanized County roads, and almost 800 miles of city streets; all of which are potential avenues for pedestrian injuries and/or fatalities. In DeKalb County, emergency response units were dispatched to reports of pedestrians hit by automobiles 2,632 times from 2019 to 2021.

With the increase in the number of persons killed in traffic crashes in Georgia and across the nation over the last year, the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety is working with partners like DeKalb County Fire Rescue to implement programs designed to stop the risky driving behaviors that are contributing to a majority of our serious-injury and fatality crashes,” Allen Poole, Director of the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety said.” “Many of the fatal traffic crashes on our roads are preventable, and we will continue to work with our educational and enforcement partners to develop programs and initiatives that are designed to get Georgia to our goal of zero traffic deaths.