FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                            

March 12, 2007

CONTACT:  SGT. R.K. HUGHES, 803-896-7920

 

SC HIGHWAY PATROL AWARDED A GRANT TO ASSIST FAMILIES OF HIGHWAY FATALITIES

 

COLUMBIA – The South Carolina Department of Public Safety Highway Patrol has been awarded a grant from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to assist in developing its Families of Highway Fatalities’ program.

 

The $87,644 grant will be used to hire a full-time coordinator for the program and for materials to promote the program. The grant period runs from 11/1/06-9/30/07. Families of Highway Fatalities was created formally in 2005, however, the Highway Patrol had been partnering with families on highway safety initiatives for several years.

 

FHF has three primary functions:

 

-- Speakers’ Bureau: families who have lost someone in a collision attend presentations with troopers and share their stories with groups in hopes of preventing future fatalities;

-- Peer Support Team: FHF families are trained through the agency’s chaplaincy program to provide peer support to other families;

-- Safety Ambassadors: FHF members participate in all SCDPS safety campaigns, working alongside troopers and other department employees distributing safety literature in their own communities and conducting media interviews to promote various safety issues from occupant restraint to DUI.

 

One of FHF’s goals is to educate other states about this resource in hopes they will adopt a similar program.

 

“These wonderful families are vital to our safety programs; when they talk about their losses, people listen,” said Highway Patrol Col. Russell F. Roark. “By participating in our safety programs, they can honor and remember their loved ones in a proactive and positive way and feel that their message may save another life. We are not aware of any other state with a program like this.”

 

The group also works with local churches and other sponsors throughout the state to hold regular support groups.

 

FHF Member Terri Wise lost her son, Cory, in 2002 in a single-vehicle collision one mile from home in Kershaw County. He was not wearing his seat belt. Ms. Wise regularly speaks on the importance of buckling up.

 

“FHF has become a vital link in my healing process,” Ms. Wise said. “Until I became part of FHF, I didn’t know anyone else who had lost a teen-ager in a motor vehicle collision. By meeting others and working together through our grief, I know I’m not alone.”

 

FHF will be participating in a number of upcoming events including the department’s 2006 Fatality Memorial Service on March 24, honoring those lost on the highways last year; speaking at high schools during prom season; and assisting with motorcycle safety efforts during upcoming bike weeks.

 

The next support group meeting will be held in Cheraw at the Maranatha Family Center, 66 Praise Lane, Cheraw. The new FHF coordinator, Faith Yingling, may be reached at 803-896-8171, or fsyingling@schp.org for more information.

 

 

** Media contact is Sgt. Hughes.