Behind the Badge
Efforts to make roads in Fullerton safer just got the green light.
The Fullerton PD has been awarded a $280,238 grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety for a yearlong program of special enforcement and public awareness efforts to prevent traffic-related deaths and injuries, the PD said in a news release.
The grant comes at a time when the number of persons killed or injured in traffic collisions in Fullerton has been on a slight rise after falling dramatically between 2006 and 2010.
Particularly worrisome, police say, are recent increases in pedestrian and motorcycle fatalities and the dangers of distracting technologies.
The grant money will provide opportunities to combat these and other devastating problems such as drunk and drugged driving and speeding, the news release said.
“California’s roadways are still among the safest in the nation,” OTS Director
Rhonda Craft said in a statement. “But to meet future mobility, safety, and sustainability objectives, we must create safer roadways for all users.
“The Fullerton Police Department will be using these and other resources to reach the vision we all share: Toward zero deaths, every 1 counts.”
Fullerton Police Chief Dan Hughes praised OTS for its commitment to partnering with local agencies in order to reduce traffic-related injuries and deaths.
Activities that the grant will fund include:
• Educational presentations
• DUI checkpoints
• DUI saturation patrols
• Traffic safety educational presentations to include bike and pedestrian awareness
• Motorcycle safety enforcement
• Distracted driving enforcement
• Seat belt and child safety seat enforcement
• Speed, red light, and stop sign enforcement
• Specialized DUI and drugged driving training such as Standardized Field Sobriety Testing), Advanced Roadside Impaired Driving Enforcement, and Drug Recognition Evaluator
• Court “sting” operations to cite individuals driving from DUI court after ignoring their license suspension or revocation
Funding for the program comes from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
