The Thomasville Police Department is pleased to announce it has received a $52,547.20 High Visibility Enforcement (HVE) grant from the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety (GOHS). Funding for this grant is provided by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and is awarded based upon the partnership with GOHS in helping to reduce crashes, injuries, and fatalities across the State of Georgia.
High Visibility Enforcement combines highly visible and proactive law enforcement to target a specific traffic safety issue designed to change unlawful and dangerous driving behaviors that contribute to most of the fatal and serious-injury traffic crashes on our roads. Law enforcement efforts are combined with visibility elements and public notification on the enforcement campaign to educate the public on traffic safety and promote voluntary compliance with the law.
“Crash data shows enforcement and education of traffic laws are two of the most effective countermeasures to help our state and nation reduce crashes and eliminate deaths and serious injuries on our roads,” said Allen Poole, Director of the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety. “Each life saved on our roads is one less family that will have to live with the pain of losing a loved one whose life was taken from them in a traffic crash that was completely preventable.”
According to Thomasville Police Chief Wade Glover, the grant will allow the Thomasville Police Department the ability to focus on traffic safety through organized educational and awareness events in areas with increased speeding and misuse of seatbelts as well as community complaints. “The grant continues to provide us with the opportunity to increase speeding and seatbelt enforcement, which is assisting with the reduction of traffic crashes and reported injuries,” said Glover. “We remain focused on curbing driving behaviors throughout our city and the message remains the same: slow down and buckle your seatbelts.”
The High Visibility Enforcement grant funds will reimburse TPD enforcement hours spent on traffic education, traffic enforcement, and child safety seat training. The HVE grant also requires the Thomasville Police Department to meet monthly milestone goals including:
· Traffic Enforcement (Speeding and Seat Belt Enforcement)
· Traffic Education
· Child Seat Installation and Training
· Governor’s Office Highway Safety Campaigns
As law enforcement partners in the Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over DUI and Click It or Ticket seatbelt campaigns, the Thomasville Police Department will also conduct mobilizations throughout the year in coordination with GOHS’s year-round waves of high visibility patrols and multi-jurisdictional sobriety checkpoints.
Glover noted that 2026 marks the third year that TPD has received the HVE grant. “We appreciate the continued partnership with the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety to enhance traffic safety in Thomasville,” said Glover. “TPD looks forward to continuing the work of educating the public on traffic safety so that we can all enjoy a community with safe roadways.”
For more information on the Thomasville Police Department’s award, contact Major Shane Harris at 229-227-7075. For more information on GOHS and its highway safety programs, visit www.gahighwaysafety.org.