More than $25 million in grants have been awarded to statewide efforts to enhance transportation safety in North Carolina, Gov. Josh Stein announced.
These programs, which began on October 1, 2025, aim to reduce traffic crashes, injuries, and fatalities on North Carolina’s roads through education, enforcement, and community building initiatives.
“No matter what form of transportation they choose, every North Carolinian should be able to travel safely each day,” Gov. Stein said in a release. “These grants will help us reduce traffic fatalities in North Carolina.”
Reducing traffic fatalities has been a persistent challenge in North Carolina. In 2021, North Carolina saw 1,663 traffic fatalities, the 5th most in the nation. Those numbers have dropped slightly in recent years, but the governor’s office is aiming to make greater progress.
The transportation safety grants were awarded through the North Carolina Governor’s Highway Safety Program (GHSP), which is working to meet a 2035 goal of reducing traffic fatalities and serious injuries by half. The N.C. Department of Transportation is currently working with over 75 partners–including city governments, metropolitan and rural planning organizations, public health agencies, advocacy groups, and others– toward the goal of fully eliminating traffic fatalities by 2050.
A total of 119 grants will support various law enforcement agencies, nonprofit organizations, and educational institutions to make roads safer. Many of these grants will be used as seed money to jump-start entirely new traffic safety programs.
Some of the funded projects include a statewide media campaign teaching drivers about North Carolina’s Move Over Law and the Raleigh Police Department’s Impaired Motorist Prevention and Control Team. A full list of this year’s grants can be found here.
