North Carolina Awards $25M in Grants to Boost Road Safety

Governor Josh Stein’s $25 million grant initiative supports programs to enhance road safety across North Carolina, targeting traffic crashes and distracted driving.

Oct. 27, 2025

2 min read

Key Takeaways

North Carolina awarded over $25 million in GHSP grants to support road safety initiatives, targeting education, enforcement, and community-based strategies.
The 119 grants fund programs addressing impaired and distracted driving, workplace safety initiatives, and public campaigns such as promoting the Move Over Law.
The programs aim to reduce crashes, injuries, and fatalities, with grant recipients expected to continue funding initiatives after the initial grant period ends.

The winding Lynn Cove Viaduct along the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina.. — The Lynn Cove Viaduct along the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina.

North Carolina Governor Josh Stein awarded over $25 million in grants focused on enhancing road safety across the state through the Governor’s Highway Safety Program (GHSP).

The funds were allocated to law enforcement agencies, nonprofits and educational institutions, according to WCNC Charlotte, for projects to promote road safety education, traffic enforcement and community-building initiatives around transportation safety.

Programs Target Distracted and Impaired Driving

Launched on Oct. 1, the programs’ goals are to reduce traffic crashes, injuries and fatalities on the North Carolina’s roadways, which a recent study ranked fifth in the nation for most distracted driving fatalities, ABC 11 reported.

According to ABC 11, 17 percent of drivers in the state admitted to watching sports on their phones while driving, a contributing factor to the more than 226,000 crashes recorded in the state last year.

Grants Support a Wide Range of Road Safety Initiatives

The 119 grants awarded will fund a variety of programs, including an impaired driving prevention and enforcement program by the Raleigh Police Department, a consortium of employers promoting safe driving behavior in the workplace and a statewide media campaign with the goal of educating drivers about roadside safety and North Carolina’s Move Over Law, WCNC Charlotte reported.

The grants provide recipients the funding to launch these traffic safety initiatives and transportation safety programs, with an expectation that awardees will eventually supplement with their own funds to sustain the programs once grant funding concludes.

Applications for the 2027 fiscal year will open in early January for projects that will launch on Oct. 1, 2026.

Sources: ABC 11, WCNC Charlotte