Five states will receive $15,000 in funding to implement drowsy driving prevention campaigns.
Georgia, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska and New York have been selected by The Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) and The National Road Safety Foundation, Inc. (NRSF) in this competitive grant program that equips states with resources needed to tackle the challenge of drowsy driving.
“Drowsy driving continues to be a chronic and often overlooked issue on our nation’s roadways,” said GHSA Executive Director Jonathan Adkins. “We are excited to continue this partnership with the National Road Safety Foundation to support innovative state approaches addressing this problem.”
Planned state activities include the following:
Georgia – The Georgia Office of Highway Safety (GOHS) will partner with the Department of Agriculture to raise awareness of drowsy driving through a presence at the Georgia National Fair. GOHS also will produce additional materials to be distributed at other events and share NRSF drowsy driving materials across a variety of media platforms.
Iowa – The Iowa Departments of Transportation, Public Safety, Public Health and the Iowa Insurance Division will expand on Zero Fatalities Iowa’s “Don’t let the Sleepyzzz get you” campaign from 2017 using virtual reality. Partnering with Iowa State University, Zero Fatalities Iowa will produce a 60 to 90 second virtual reality experience affirming the message that drowsy driving is not a game.
Minnesota – The Minnesota Department of Public Safety Office of Traffic Safety (DPS-OTS) will purchase wearable sleep measurement tools and software to assist research being conducted by the University of Minnesota’s HumanFIRST Laboratory on the impact of sleep patterns and prolonged wakefulness on driver safety, working to improve understanding and detection of driver fatigue nationwide.
Nebraska – The Nebraska Department of Transportation, Highway Safety Office (NDOT-HSO) will conduct a drowsy driving injury prevention initiative, focusing on education for young adult and senior drivers. The initiative includes four coordinated events covering seven counties, providing Drowsy Driving workshops to educate community partners about traffic safety concerns and address drowsy driving injury prevention.
New York – The New York Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee (NYSGTSC) will partner with the New York State Partnership against Drowsy Driving and Stony Brook University’s School of Health Technology and Management to educate law enforcement personnel about the dangers of drowsy driving through a webinar.
