EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Governor's Office of Highway Safety Russell W. Hinton, State Auditor March 2003 Performance Audit Operations Division Department of Audits and Accounts 254 Washington St., SW Atlanta, GA 30334 Background The mission of the Governor's Office of Highway Safety is to educate the public on highway safety issues and [to] facilitate the implementation of programs that reduce crashes, injuries, and fatalities on Georgia roadways (2003 Highway Safety Plan). The Office seeks to accomplish its mission by using federal monies to fund state and local programs that address specific highway safety issues. The federal funds are provided through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The 26-person Office is headed by a Director who, per state law, is appointed by and serves at the pleasure of the Governor. The legislation that established the Office also specifies that the Office is attached to the Department of Public Safety for administrative purposes only. The Office was budgeted to expend $25.3 million in fiscal year 2003, including $24.7 million in federal funds and $609,229 in state funds. Summary Finding The Office should take significant and immediate action to provide increased accountability for the state and federal funds that it spends (or distributes in the form of grants) each year. Our review of the Office found that it has not implemented effective internal controls needed to provide reasonable assurances that funds are being used in the most cost-effective manner. While a substantial number of grants and contracts are awarded each year (281 in fiscal year 2002), summary data is not maintained for evaluating their overall effectiveness or the effectiveness of all of the individual grants and contracts. From calendar year 1999 to calendar year 2001 (the most recent year for which data is available), the number of traffic fatalities in the state increased 7.1%, from 1,508 to 1,615. During this same time period, the number of traffic fatalities in the rest of the U.S. increased by less than 1%. The rate of traffic fatalities in the state during this time period, however, declined from 1.53 to 1.50 fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled (VMT). While this rate is in line with the U.S. average, 24 states had lower fatality rates in 2001, ranging from 0.9 to 1.49 fatalities per 100 million VMT. A more detailed review of the state's fatality data indicated that the Office had mixed success in reducing specific types of fatal accidents and in reducing fatalities among specific age groups. The number of alcohol-related fatalities increased from 524 in 1999 to 557 in 2001 but the rate of alcohol fatalities decreased from 0.53 to 0.52 per 100 million VMT. The number of fatalities among 16-24 year-olds, however, increased 24% from 323 in 1999 to 399 in 2001 (the fatality rate per VMT was Governor's Office of Highway Safety Page 1 not available). Seat belt usage increased from 74.2% in 1999 to 79% in 2001 (according to an 18county survey conducted by the University of Georgia). As discussed below, our review identified a number of areas in which the Office needs to improve its operations in order to provide more effective stewardship of the public monies that are entrusted to it. The Office should establish procedures for measuring its overall effectiveness. Every year the Office prepares a detailed Highway Safety Plan for NHTSA that contains numerous goals and objectives, including specific objectives for individual grants and contracts. (The 2003 Plan is 123 pages long and contains 51 different goals and objectives.) No summary document is prepared, however, to determine if all of the goals and objectives were actually achieved. The Office should implement long-term data analysis procedures for evaluating the overall effectiveness of the Highway Safety grants that it provides to Georgia's cities and counties. The Office should take steps to ensure that Highway Safety grants are equitably distributed among those areas of the state with the most serious highway safety problems. Summary documentation should be maintained for determining if grantees met the specific objectives outlined in their grants. Internal controls should be implemented to ensure that contractors fully comply with the terms of their contracts as a condition of being paid. Our review of the Office's contracts for fiscal year 2002 found cases in which the need for and the cost-effectiveness of the contracts were questionable. The Office needs to establish a coherent personnel system with job titles, job descriptions, and pay ranges that reflect actual duties and responsibilities. Currently, the Office selects job titles, position descriptions, and salary ranges that have been developed by other state agencies and applies them to its own personnel. These job titles are used by the Office even though they may not reflect the actual duties and responsibilities of the positions within the Office of Highway Safety. Of the Office's 26 employees, 14 have job titles that imply some level of managerial or supervisory responsibility, including nine directors, four managers, and one administrator. Only seven of these 14 personnel supervise more than one employee; five do not supervise any personnel. The Office should reconsider the need to spend approximately $1,200 per month for 42 cell phones, pagers, and other communications devices for its 26-person staff. Legislative Issues Recommendation No. 1 Consideration should be given to amending current law to make the Department of Public Safety (or another agency or commission) responsible for overseeing the operations of the Office of Highway Safety. Under current law, the Office is attached to the Department of Public Safety for administrative purposes only. The law does not provide for any type of formal oversight or accountability. If a board or commission were established that was composed of state agencies involved in highway safety, it could serve as a means of creating a more coordinated approach to the state's highway safety issues. For additional information or to request a copy of the Audit, contact Paul Bernard at 404-657-5220. Governor's Office of Highway Safety Page 2