The Georgia Department of Community Health was awarded $647,000 to keep the oldest, youngest and rural drivers and passengers safe on the road.
"(Public health) is about mapping and counting and understanding risk factors and keeping people out of the hospital," said Lisa Dawson, the health department's program director for the injury prevention program. "If you're under 32 in Georgia, your greatest risk factor for dying is being in a car crash."
The health department's three injury prevention programs -- the Older Driver Safety Program, Rural Roads Initiative and the Child Occupant Safety Program -- received the funds from the Governor's Office of Highway Safety at the beginning of the year.
Funding is granted on yearly through competitive applications, Ms. Dawson said.
"We don't ever assume ... that this is a given," she said.
Katie Fallon, spokeswoman for the Governor's Office of Highway Safety, said the grants reflect the programs' reach and effectiveness. But she said funding has decreased because of budget cuts.
The Older Driver Safety program, which received $100,000, is about four years old, Ms. Dawson said. It has partnered with other state agencies on initiatives such as creating more generous turns on congested streets and larger lettering on traffic signs, she said.
"In some cases, things we do for older drivers end up being good for everyone on the road," she said.
The Rural Roads Initiative addresses environmental risks such as inadequate signage and striping, as well as behavioral factors such as lack of seat-belt use and speeding, spokeswoman Joye Burton said in a news release.
She said the Child Occupant Safety Program historically has focused on many areas of public safety, but the push in 2010 officials will be to expand law enforcement involvement in child passenger safety.