SOUTH CAROLINA
Greenville County Safe Communities

 

PROJECT CHARACTERISTICS PROGRAM AREA(S)
  Outstanding collaborative effort   Safe Communities
       
TYPE OF JURISDICTION    
  County    
       
TARGETED POPULATION(S) JURISDICTION SIZE
  General Population   320,167


PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION
Historically, Greenville County is one of the five counties in South Carolina which experiences the highest number of traffic collisions, injuries, and fatalities. The county leads the state in property and economic losses due to traffic crashes. This loss in 1998 was estimated at $191.6 million. During 1999, vehicle crashes in Greenville County accounted for 11 percent of the total crashes in the state, and the county led the state in motor vehicle crash-related fatalities. Approximately 60 percent of all admissions to the Department of Trauma and Surgery at Greenville Memorial Hospital from 1995 through 1999 were for traffic crash-related injuries.


GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
The Greenville County Safe Communities program was created in 1998 to help decrease traffic crash-related injuries, fatalities and economic losses. Objectives of the program include the following:

  • To establish a Safe Communities program in Greenville County
  • To maintain an aggressive, selective traffic enforcement strategy
  • To develop and conduct local traffic safety activities and support national traffic safety programs
  • To develop and implement a plan for financial continuity of the Safe Communities program


STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES
In 1998, a traffic safety programs administrator was appointed to shape and manage the three-year Greenville County Safe Communities demonstration project. The program administrator selected and organized a Safe Community Program Committee, whose members were selected from several working groups: engineering/evaluation, education, data collection, employee safety, funding and enforcement. Committee members were comprised of county and state engineers, reporters, health care providers, law enforcement officials, transportation safety coordinators for the school district, firefighters and insurance representatives. Members sought to develop a countywide approach to resolving Greenville's traffic safety issues. The Safe Community Program Committee developed a variety of activities designed to meet the program's goals and objectives. These include:

  • Creating traffic safety educational brochures
  • Developing safety programs specifically tailored for Hispanic Americans and other emerging minority populations
  • Promoting national safety events locally, including Bystander Care for the Injured and National Walk Your Children to School Week
  • Convening a coalition of Greenville area high school and college students to form Student Advisers for Excellence (SAFE) as a vehicle for recommending traffic safety activities and for addressing traffic safety issues specific to youth
  • Organizing the Network of Employers for Traffic Safety (NETS) to provide expertise and organization for data collection and analysis, preparation and administration of survey instruments and identification of funding sources for the Safe Communities effort


RESULTS
The following data illustrate the success of the Greenville County Safe Communities program:

  • The county reported a 5 percent reduction in traffic crashes from 1998 to 1999
  • Greenville County traffic data reports indicate a 16 percent reduction in traffic fatalities from 1998 to 1999
  • County officials report a 4.2 percent reduction in traffic injuries from 1998 to 1999
 

FUNDING
  Section 402:
Local:
$38,106
$38,106
CONTACT  
 

Sammuel Simmons
Greenville County Sheriff's Office
4 McGee Street, Room 122B
Greenville, SC 29601
(864) 467–5174


NATIONAL HIGHWAY TRAFFIC SAFETY ADMINISTRATION

SPRING 2000