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The DeKalb County Board of Health is proud to announce its 13th year of

 

partnership with the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety. The Board of Health recently

 

received a $67,800 Safe Communities grant for traffic and pedestrian safety programs.

 

The grant will support a variety of initiatives through 2012. They will address

 

child passenger and pedestrian safety, teen safe driving, and impaired driving prevention.

 

In addition, DeKalb’s Safe Communities will have two special focuses. One will

 

be increasing public awareness of the July 2011 change to Georgia’s child passenger

 

safety law. This law now requires that children under age 8 be properly restrained in an

 

approved car seat or booster seat secured in the vehicle’s back seat. From 2005 through

 

2009, DeKalb County saw 11 crash-related deaths of children under the age of 13. Many

 

of these deaths can be attributed to three out of four children being in a seat that was not

 

used correctly.

 

The other focus will be free educational opportunities for teens and parents

 

through the Parents Reducing Injuries and Driver Error (“PRIDE”) program. This

 

program addresses driver attitudes, knowledge and behaviors, rather than hands-on skills.

 

From 2005 through 2009, there were 42 motor vehicle deaths of DeKalb residents ages

 

13 through 19.

 

For information on traffic and pedestrian safety activities in DeKalb County,

 

contact Denika Lomax, DeKalb Safe Communities Coordinator, DeKalb County Board

 

of Health, at drlomax@dhr.state.ga.us or (404) 508-7884.

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