GEORGIA YOUNG ADULT PROGRAM
The GOHS Young Adult Program’s (GYAP) mission is to promote education
and awareness to young adults about highway safety issues, such as but
not limited to; underage drinking, impaired driving, destructive decisions,
and other high-risk behaviors, in order to decrease crashes, injuries,
and fatalities in young adult drivers and passengers.
This mission is achieved by training peer-educators, providing educational programs to the school, community and local high schools, as well as funding students to participate in area, state, and national highway safety related conferences. GYAP is implemented in colleges and universities statewide, targeting young adults 18-24 years of age. The overall goal for this program is to decrease the number of fatalities from motor vehicle crashes, since the number one cause of death in the U.S. for this population results from motor vehicle crashes.
BACKGROUND
Young drivers have a higher rate of crashes, injuries and fatalities than older drivers. In 2005, 229 young people ages 16 to 20 were killed in motor vehicle crashes. Although young people (ages 16-20) account for only 7% of Georgia’s population, they were responsible for 13% of the total crash fatalities for 2005. According to the most recent data from FARS (2003), 64% of the 16-20 year-old passenger occupants killed or seriously injured were unrestrained in vehicles. The inexperience and immaturity of younger drivers are thought to be major contributing factors in the higher fatality rate.
High-risk behavior, peer pressure, inexperience, limited use or no use of occupant safety devices, lack of proper driving information and education are a few of the problems that our youth face while driving on Georgia’s roadways.
GYAP originated in 2000, with two colleges, Georgia Southwestern and Paine College and has expanded to 14 colleges or universities in FFY 2005. The goal for FFY 2007 is to provide outreach to 100% of the accredited colleges in Georgia. The next page contains a list of the colleges/universities in FFY 2007 with GYAP.
TARGET POPULATION
Because the problems of alcohol impaired driving have the potential to affect all motorists, the target population is the motoring public to include young, inexperienced drivers ages 16-24.