By GHSA
WASHINGTON, D.C. — For the seventh consecutive year, the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) and the Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility (Responsibility.org) are awarding grants to help states keep Americans safe from alcohol- and drug-impaired drivers. Earlier today, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and Highway Loss Data Institute released new studies that found that crash rates spiked in five states following the legalization and retail sale of marijuana, demonstrating the urgent need to combat drugged driving on our roads.
The 2021 GHSA-Responsibility.org grant awards will provide four states – Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland and Wisconsin – with a total of $157,165 to support enhanced identification and assessment of alcohol- and drug-impaired drivers. These new grants will provide for law enforcement drug-impaired driving detection training, tools to better identify treatment needs for offenders and efforts to improve toxicology reporting for suspected instances of impaired driving. Through the first six years of the grant program, approximately 2,300 officers across the country have received training to better identify drug-impaired drivers.
“Americans spent the past year trying to stay safe, only to return to the road and face another deadly threat – drunk and drug-impaired drivers,” said GHSA Executive Director Jonathan Adkins. “As more states legalize marijuana, bars reopen and friends reunite, these grants will help advance proven and innovative ways to address some of the deadliest drivers and improve roadway safety.”
FULL STORY: As traffic comes roaring back, four states receive grants to stop drug and high-risk impaired driving