Paulding County staff present comprehensive safety action plan; board asked to consider 5% annual reduction target for fatal and serious crashes

Paulding County commissioners heard a presentation of the county's Comprehensive Safety Action Plan and discussed a draft resolution that would set a 5% annual reduction target for fatal and serious-injury crashes on county roads.

The plan, developed by VHB with funding from a Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation, examines crash data from 2019—2023 and identifies location-specific and systemic strategies to reduce fatal and serious injuries on Paulding's roads. "What it is is it's a targeted strategy to help guide the county and its transportation partners, to help really focus on reducing the overall number of traffic crashes across the county, but really targeting and focusing in on fatal and serious injury crashes," said Reagan Hammond, a planner with VHB, during the presentation.

The consultant team reported that from 2019 through 2023 Paulding County recorded a little over 22,000 crashes; 93 of those were fatal and 376 involved a serious injury. The study identified five crash types that most often produced fatal or serious outcomes: head-on crashes, single-vehicle run-off-road crashes, speed-related crashes, left-turn angle crashes and crashes occurring at night on unlit roads. The plan also maps a "high injury network" of road segments and intersections where a large share of serious crashes occur.

The plan contains 66 site-specific recommendations, including 23 locations inside the City of Dallas and 14 inside the City of Hiram, plus systemwide countermeasures such as improved lighting, warning beacons, delineation of curves and targeted bicycle and pedestrian improvements near schools and community destinations. "These are the types of measures that are proven to have an impact on reducing the types of crashes that you're seeing in Paulding County," Hammond said.

County staff summarized eligibility requirements for SS4A funding and presented a draft resolution (Resolution 2025-16) committing the county to an eventual goal of zero roadway fatalities and serious injuries and to an interim target of a 5% annual reduction. "To satisfy this criterion, we prepared a draft resolution to adopt a goal of 5% annual reduction for serious injury and fatal crashes on County roads," said county staff during the agenda presentation. The presentation noted that the plan must be posted on a publicly available website to meet SS4A requirements; staff said the project has a dedicated website and the county site will host final documentation at an appropriate time.

Commissioners and staff discussed next steps including sharing the plan with Georgia Department of Transportation partners (GDOT), using the plan for grant applications and tracking progress against the proposed target. A staff representative noted SS4A implementation grants and other federal/state funds could be pursued using the plan as a basis for projects. The transcript does not record a motion or vote to adopt Resolution 2025-16 during the meeting.

The plan recommends prioritizing projects on the county's highest-risk corridors and notes that, if the county adopted a 5% annual reduction goal, modeled impacts could translate to substantial reductions in deaths over the long term. Staff said technical steering committee members included GDOT District 6 and that GDOT participated in the study.

The county presentation closed with an offer to publish the final executive summary and to coordinate with law enforcement and planning partners on implementation and data improvements.