MURRIETA – Murrieta Police Department has been awarded a $135,833 grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety for a year-long program of special enforcements and public awareness efforts to prevent traffic related deaths and injuries.
Murrieta Police Department will use the funding as part of the city’s ongoing commitment to keep our roadways safe and improve the quality of life both enforcement and education, said a news release.
Chief Sean Hadden said his goal is to reduce injury traffic collisions and DUI related accidents in the city. The Office of Traffic Safety Grant awarded this year will go a long way towards attaining that goal.
After falling dramatically between 2006 and 2010, the number of persons killed and injured statewide in traffic collisions saw slight increases in 2011 and 2012. Particularly worrisome are recent increases in pedestrian and motorcycle fatalities and the dangers of distracting technologies. This grant funding will provide opportunities to combat these and other devastating problems such as drunk and drugged driving and speeding.
“Overall, California’s roadways are among the safest in the nation,” OTS Director Rhonda Craft said. “But to meet future mobility, safety, and accessible transportation objectives, we have to reverse this recent trend in order to reach our common goal, zero deaths on our roadways. The Office of Traffic Safety and the Murrieta Police Department want to work with everyone to create a culture of traffic safety across Murrieta and the state.”
Police activities that the grant will fund include; Educational presentations, DUI checkpoints, DUI saturation patrols, motorcycle safety enforcement, distracted driving enforcement, seat belt and child safety seat enforcement, bicycle and pedestrian safety enforcement, speed, red light, and stop sign enforcement. It will also include warrant service operations targeting multiple DUI offenders and a compilation of DUI “Hot Sheets,” identifying the worst-of-the-worst DUI offenders.
There will also be specialized DUI and drugged driving training such as Standardized Field Sobriety Testing (SFST), Advanced Roadside Impaired Driving Enforcement (ARIDE), and Drug Recognition Evaluator (DRE). The task force will conduct court “sting” operations to cite individuals driving from DUI court after ignoring their license suspension or revocation. Stakeout operations will be conducted to observe the “worst-of-the-worst” repeat DUI offender probationers with suspended or revoked driver licenses.
Funding for this program is from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
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