Safety review of the Governor's Highway Safety Office Sign Grant Program

The Governor's Highway Safety Office Sign Grant Program attempts to improve safety in small communities throughout the state of Tennessee. The Sign Grant Program provides funding to upgrade regulatory and warning signs on the locally maintained roads of recipients. A measurable and significant reduction in accidents is one of the desired outcomes of the grant. The purpose of this study was to attempt to take quantitative and qualitative measure of the safety benefits of the Sign Grant Program. A "before-and-after" accident study in selected grant-receiving communities and a comprehensive survey of previous recipient communities were the chosen analysis techniques. It was found that the Sign Grant Program induced a reduction in certain types of accidents. Grant recipients expressed a belief that the program had many safety and non-safety benefits within their communities.