(Atlanta) The Georgia Governor’s Office of Highway Safety (GOHS) and the Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) today released the complete lineup of the 2019 publications of the Georgia Traffic Safety Facts (GTSF), which includes both Detailed Facts and Quick Facts on each topic area. GTSF are a series of publications collaboratively developed by the Traffic Records Coordinating Committee (TRCC)/Crash Outcomes Data Evaluation System (CODES). They combine information from all traffic records information systems (Crash, Driver, Vehicle, Roadway, Citation/Adjudication, Injury Surveillance — includes EMS, Trauma Registry, Hospital Discharges, Emergency Room Visits, and Vital Records) to paint a comprehensive picture of traffic safety issues in Georgia.
The GTSF Detailed Facts are intended to be used by a variety of disciplines including traffic safety practitioners, media, engineers, policy makers, and more. The GTSF Quick Facts are a one-page front and back document for public consumption that not only includes data, but also prevention measures and resources.
“Data is a key component in developing and implementing highway safety programs, and it is imperative the data used in roadway design, enforcement, education, and all highway safety initiatives be as accurate and detailed as possible.” Allen Poole, Director of the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety said. “I want to commend all of those who worked so hard to gather the volumes of information and to organize it into these fact sheets that will serve as the foundation for the efforts of all our partners to reduce crashes and save lives in the next five years.”
“This compilation of data has the potential to save lives in Georgia,” said Kathleen E. Toomey, M.D., M.P.H., Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Health. “By working together and supporting each other with facts, we can prevent injuries and improve highway safety throughout the state of Georgia.”
GOHS and DPH published the 2019 GTSF Quick Facts as an easy-to-read reference to inform the public on traffic safety issues highlighted in the GTSF Detailed Facts. The GTSF Quick Facts include prevention measures and applicable resources to assist the public in learning about specific traffic safety issues that impact their communities as well as evidence-based ways to reduce risks. The following GTSF Quick Facts are available on the GOHS website:
The traffic safety issues covered in the 2019 GTSF Detailed Facts are an overview of motor vehicle crashes, pedestrians, and bicyclists (non-motorists), distracted driving, motorcycles, occupant protection, young drivers, and older drivers. These publications assist stakeholders in evaluating trends and identifying countermeasures to eliminate fatalities and serious injuries for all road users on Georgia roadways.
- 2019 Overview of Motor Vehicle Crashes Georgia Traffic Safety Facts: This fact sheet provides an overview of traffic fatalities, serious injuries, and crashes on Georgia roadways in 2019. This fact sheet also includes additional facts for topic-specific emphasis areas and a summary table of Georgia Traffic Safety Performance Measures. There were 1,491 motor vehicle traffic fatalities resulting in 1.12 traffic fatalities for every 100 million vehicle miles traveled (VMT) in the state. Although Georgia ranks fourth in the number of fatalities in the nation, it ranks 22nd in fatalities per 100M VMT. Motor vehicle traffic-related injuries resulted in $1.8 billion hospitalization and emergency room visit charges for Georgia residents.
- 2019 Pedestrians and Bicyclists (Non-Motorists) Georgia Traffic Safety Facts: This fact sheet presents data for 2019 on pedestrians and bicyclists, defined collectively in this fact sheet as non-motorists. Although pedestrians and bicyclists represented less than one percent of all individuals involved in motor vehicle crashes (0.4 percent), they accounted for 17 percent of all traffic fatalities.
- 2019 Distracted Driving Georgia Traffic Safety Facts: This fact sheet presents data for 2019 on distracted driving with an accompanying Appendix with county-level data. For the purposes of this fact sheet, a distraction-related crash is any crash in which a driver was reported as a confirmed distracted driver or identified as a suspected distracted driver. Driver distraction occurs when drivers divert their attention from the driving task to focus on some other activity. Fifty-six percent of all motor vehicle traffic crashes had at least one confirmed or suspected distracted driver.
- 2019 Motorcycles Georgia Traffic Safety Facts: This fact sheet presents data for 2019 on motorcyclists with an accompanying Appendix with county-level data. As defined for this fact sheet, a motorcyclist is a general term to refer to either the rider (motorcycle operator) or passenger. There were 170 motorcyclists fatally injured in motor vehicle traffic crashes in the state of Georgia. The number of motorcyclist fatalities in traffic crashes increased by 22 percent, from 139 motorcyclist fatalities in 2017 to 170 in 2019.
- 2019 Occupant Protection Georgia Traffic Safety Facts: This fact sheet presents data for 2019 on occupant protection with an accompanying Appendix with county-level data. Occupant protection (referred to as "restraint use") includes seat belts, car seats, and booster seats for passenger vehicle occupants (drivers and passengers) in cars, pickup trucks, vans, and sport utility vehicles (SUVs). Unrestrained passenger vehicle occupants of all ages are more than 4 times likely to be fatally injured compared to restrained occupants. If all Georgia passenger vehicle occupants (ages 5+ years) had been restrained during 2015-2019, an average of 675 lives would have been saved per year.
- 2019 Young Drivers Georgia Traffic Safety Facts: This fact sheet presents data for 2019 on young drivers. The term young driver refers to a person 15 to 20 years old operating a motor vehicle. People in this age group generally obtain their licenses for the first time and many are under graduated driver licensing (GDL) programs as they learn driving skills. Although young drivers accounted for 8 percent of all licensed drivers, they represented 17 percent of all drivers involved in serious injury crashes.
- 2019 Older Drivers Georgia Traffic Safety Facts: For the purposes of this fact sheet, persons 55-to-64 years old and persons 65 years or older are considered part of the "older drivers" population – particularly in relation to population, drivers, motor vehicle occupants, and non-motorists. In 2019, an estimated 2.8 million people were 55 years and older – a 12 percent increase from 2015. Drivers aged 55 and older are more likely to have safe driving habits, such as wearing seat belts and limiting their driving at night. However, they may be more vulnerable in traffic crashes because of the fragility that aging brings. Of those drivers aged 65+ involved in a fatal crash, 64 percent of those drivers died in the fatal crash.
For more information, visit
https://www.gahighwaysafety.org. You can also follow GOHS at
https://www.facebook.com/GAHighwaySafety and at gohsgeorgia on Twitter and Instagram.
The Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) is the lead agency in preventing disease, injury, and disability; promoting health and well-being; and preparing for and responding to disasters from a health perspective. For more information about DPH, visit
https://dph.georgia.gov/.
