A team of UGA researchers in the College of Public Health’s Department of Health Promotion and Behavior received a $281,300 grant from the Georgia Governor’s Office of Highway Safety (GOHS) to evaluate the effectiveness of their educational and law enforcement programs. The UGA evaluation team, led by co-principal investigators Carol Cotton and Stuart Fors, will provide evaluation oversight for all of GOHS 2007/2008 grants.
The primary focus of the project is to systematically review and analyze grantee effectiveness and, ultimately, determine the overall effectiveness of GOHS in managing hundreds of grantees. The team will also evaluate an innovative regional data collection initiative, provide assistance to other GOHS grantees, evaluate surveys measuring Georgia driver’s knowledge of and attitudes regarding GOHS initiatives, and assess the GOHS annual statewide seat belt survey.
Cotton and Fors have extensive experience in implementing and conducting educational program evaluations. They have teamed up on eleven previous highway and traffic safety cooperative agreements and grants. This is the fifth grant the researchers have received from the GOHS in the past nine years.
Cotton is known throughout the state for her work in the area of administrative license suspensions, throughout the Southeast for her work as a data contractor with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and across the nation for her co-authorship of the Safe Communities Data Toolkit. Fors has an extensive list of publications and is known nationally for his study of the effectiveness of victim impact panels on reducing DUI recidivism. Although he retired in 2003 after 24 years on the UGA faculty, Fors continues to lend his expertise to ongoing projects as co-principal investigator.
Also included on the team are James Barlament, Program Analyst; Diane Cronin, Administrative Assistant; Maggie Benson, Research Assistant; and Jennifer Mitchell, Research Assistant. The team will produce annual comprehensive reports enabling GOHS to better meet its mandates by objectively measuring grantee effectiveness and with it, Georgia’s regionally-low crash fatalities and injuries.