news-record.com

High Point was named Traffic Safety Community of the Year Wednesday by the AAA Carolina’s Traffic Safety Foundation.

This is the third year High Point has been nominated for the community of the year award for large communities.

There are three categories based on population size. High Point is in the population of 30,000 or more category.

Lt. Barry Roberts said the High Point Police Department participates in Operation Stop Arm to focus on stopping motorists who pass stopped school buses.

The department is also implementing a texting-while-driving course to demonstrate to residents how dangerous this activity is.

The Traffic Safety Community of the Year awards are based on crash statistics, number of law enforcement officers per capita, presence of a formal traffic safety program and existence of a special traffic division.

The foundation examined these categories to find cities that actively pursue ways to enhance highway safety and make a strong commitment with extra law enforcement on the city’s roads. The number of crashes was a statistical standard used to see how successful cities are using these factors. UNC-Charlotte provided the statistical analysis.

-- Staff reports