The following organizations work directly with the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety to implement safety programs across the state.
BICYCLE SAFETY
The Atlanta Bicycle Coalition is a member-supported organization working for better on-road bicycling conditions in metro-Atlanta. We believe that truly healthy communities welcome bicyclists and provide a safe riding environment. We promote bicycle transportation, responsible recreational riding, and education for bicyclists and motorists alike.
GEORGIA BIKES! is a non-profit organization working to improve bicycling conditions and promote bicycling throughout the state of Georgia
CHILD PASSENGER SAFETY AND SEATBELTS
City of Atlanta Department of Fire Rescue
The City of Atlanta Fire Department has 33 fitting stations located throughout the city. The hours of operation are from 8:00a.m. to 7:30p.m operating 7 days per week. Each fitting station has a certified child safety seat technician on staff. The parent or caregiver can access these services by calling the car seat hot line, (404) 546-4444 . The receptionist will direct their call to the nearest fitting station in their area. They will speak directly with the technician on setting up an appointment for their child safety seat. to be inspected or installed. The parent or caregiver can also access our services at to www.atlantaga.gov and from there proceed to the Atlanta Fire Rescue site where they will find the link for the child safety seats section. In addition to serving as a fitting station, the City of Atlanta Fire Department hosts and assists at many events throughout the metro area providing financially eligible families with child safety seats and education.
Department of Public Heath, Injury Prevention
The Department of Public Health’s Child Occupant Safety Programs offer many resources statewide. There are currently six successful initiatives focused on child passenger safety (CPS): 1) CPS Mini-Grant – provides education on use of car seats to income eligible families in over 135 counties; 2) Teddy Bear Sticker Program – Car seats and booster seats with Teddy Bear Stickers are eligible for replacement through the Teddy Bear Sticker Program when the car seat or booster seat has been involved in a motor vehicle crash; 3) “Keeping Kids Safe” Hospital Training – training hospital staff in basic CPS and angle tolerance testing for premature and low birth weight infants; 4) Special Healthcare Needs – educates and provides technical assistance to partners and families regarding safe transportation of children with special healthcare needs; 5) Safe School Buses – addresses challenging issues including transportation of pre-school age children and children with special healthcare needs, and 6) Law Enforcement Training – works to increase law enforcement officers’ understanding and enforcement of Georgia’s CPS law.
Injury Free Coalition For Kids Atlanta
The primary focus for Injury Free Coalition for Kids (IFCK) Atlanta has been the provision of a bilingual hospital based child passenger safety education program with car seat distribution. IFCK-Atlanta primarily serves the Metropolitan Atlanta Community through local community referrals from Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Hughes Spalding and through affiliates of the Grady Health System. IFCK distributes more than 1000 car seats annually through it’s “Cuidad los Niños: Child Passenger Education and Distribution Program”. To learn more about Injury Free Coalition Kids of Atlanta Child Passenger Safety programs or to become a volunteer please contact Program Coordinator Donna Childress at 404.616.3159 or and let’s partner to keep Georgia’s children safe.
DeKalb Safe Communities has two main programs dedicated to Child Passenger Safety. Car Seat 101 is a class designed to teach DeKalb County parents, grandparents and caregivers how to properly install a child safety seat, including booster seats. Cost of the class is $10 for parents who are receiving WIC, Medicaid or PeachCare for Kids. YOU MUST BE A RESIDENT OF DEKALB COUNTY TO PARTICIPATE. Safe Communities Booster Seat/ Seat Belt program is designed to educate children in Pre K- 2nd grade about the importance of wearing a seat belt while riding in a car. Call 404-294-3261 to register for the car seat class. For questions about the car seat program contact 404-294-3700.
STATE OF GEORGIA LINKS
Department of Driver Services (DDS)
DDS wants to make sure that you have a pleasant experience taking care of your driver’s license business. license examiners and customer service representatives are trained and encouraged in the art of problem solving rather than processing paper. While our policies and procedures are established by state and federal regulation, our goal is to supply our customers with professional and courteous service while enforcing them.
Georgia Department of Public Safety
The Georgia Department of Public Safety (DPS) oversees the day-to-day operation of the Georgia State Patrol (GSP) founded in 1937 to investigate traffic crashes and enforce traffic and criminal laws on the state’s roads.
Georgia Department of Transportation
The Georgia Department of Transportation plans, constructs, maintains and improves the state’s road and bridges; provides planning and financial support for other modes of transportation such as mass transit and airports; provides airport and air safety planning; and provides air travel to state departments. The Department also provides administrative support to the State Tollway Authority, the Georgia Rail Passenger Authority, and the Georgia Southwest Rail Excursion Authority.
ALCOHOL AWARENESS
OTHER GEORGIA SAFETY GROUPS
Operation Lifesaver is a national, non-profit education and awareness program dedicated to ending tragic collisions, fatalities and injuries at highway-rail grade crossings and on railroad rights of way. To accomplish its mission, Operation Lifesaver promotes 3 E’s of safety: Education, Enforcement and Engineering. Operation Lifesaver strives to increase public awareness about the dangers around the rails. The program seeks to educate both drivers and pedestrians to make safe decisions at crossings and around railroad tracks. Operation Lifesaver promotes active enforcement of traffic laws relating to crossing signs and signals and private property laws related to trespassing. Operation Lifesaver encourages continued engineering research and innovation to improve the safety of railroad crossings.
The purpose of the TIME Task Force is three-fold: 1. To continue the dialogue on ways to improve inter-agency coordination and cooperation. 2. To create an opportunity for multi-agency training which promotes teamwork. 3. To serve as a platform for participants to develop common operational strategies and a better understanding of other agencies’ roles and responsibilities.
Georgia Motor Trucking Association
The Georgia Motor Trucking Association is the only organization in the state that provides full-time service and representation for the trucking industry. The Association serves as the “voice” of the trucking industry in Georgia, representing more than 400 for-hire carriers, 400 private carriers and 300 associate members.
Pedestrians Educating Drivers on Safety (PEDS)
PEDS is a member-based advocacy organization dedicated to making metro Atlanta safe and accessible for all pedestrians. When PEDS was founded in 1996, pedestrians were not yet on metro Atlanta’s radar screen. Government agencies identified transportation safety exclusively with occupant safety. Engineers lacked information about the needs of pedestrians. Police officers ticketed crosswalk law violators only after someone had been hit, and media attention to pedestrians was limited to one-inch blurbs following fatal crashes. Worst of all, people rarely thought of themselves as pedestrians. Because of PEDS’ efforts, all that is changing.