The Maryland Department of Transportation Motor Vehicle Administration’s (MDOT MVA) Highway Safety Office is seeking grant applications for traffic safety programs and projects aimed at reducing crashes, deaths and injuries on Maryland roadways. Grant requests can be for programs and activities occurring between October 1, 2020 and September 30, 2021. The deadline for applications is March 2, 2020.
“More than 500 people are killed and thousands more are injured each year on Maryland roads from avoidable factors,” said MDOT MVA Administrator Chrissy Nizer, who also serves as Governor Larry Hogan’s Highway Safety Representative. “We cannot achieve our goal to eliminate highway crashes, deaths and injuries alone. The partnerships we build though these grants are vital in helping us make our roadways as safe as possible.”
The MDOT MVA Highway Safety Office has two types of grants available: a law enforcement overtime grant and a general highway safety grant that is available to eligible organizations, including state and local governments, nonprofits and institutes of higher education.
Eligible projects must support and implement the strategies in the Maryland Strategic Highway Safety Plan and address the “four Es of highway safety” – education, enforcement, engineering and emergency medical services. In 2019, the Hogan Administration awarded nearly $12 million in grants for a variety of highway safety initiatives, including impaired driving prevention programs, local police enforcement efforts and school-based education and awareness campaigns.
“We continue to make progress with each awareness campaign and safety program, but there is still more work to be done,” said the Dr. Tim Kerns, Director of MDOT MVA’s Highway Safety Office. “We’re looking for partners and programs that share our goal of eliminating crashes, deaths and serious injuries on our roads.
MDOT MVA’s Highway Safety Office administers grant-funded programs that address priority areas such as impaired driving prevention, occupant protection, aggressive and distracted driving prevention and safety for pedestrians, bicyclists, motorcyclists, young drivers and senior drivers. Grant funds also can be awarded for projects that help improve the quality of traffic safety data. For information and to apply for a highway safety grant, visit mva.maryland.gov/safety/mhso/grants-management.htm or call 310-787-4050.
The MDOT MVA provides multiple resources for the driving public including educational campaigns and other resources. To learn more about the MDOT MVA Highway Safety Office’s Zero Deaths campaign, visit zerodeathsmd.com or like and follow @ZeroDeathsMD on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
