San Ramon PD Receives Grant Funding for Traffic Safety
SAN RAMON – The San Ramon Police Department has been awarded a $46,122.00 grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) for a year-long program of special enforcements and public awareness efforts to prevent traffic related deaths and injuries.
The department says they plan to use the funding “as part of the city’s ongoing commitment to keep roadways safe and improve the quality of life through both enforcement and education.”
After falling to a ten year low in 2010, police say the number of persons killed has climbed nearly 17% across the state with 3,176 killed in 2015 according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Police cite a six year rise in pedestrian and bicycle fatalities, along with the growing dangers of distracting technologies, and the emergence of drug-impaired driving as an increasing threat to traffic safety.
The funding will “provide opportunities to combat these and other devastating problems such as drunk driving, speeding and crashes at intersections,” the department adds.
Office of traffic safety director Rhonda Craft contents that increased ticket writing will decrease the number of accidents, explaining, “years of research tell us that enforcement and education work best jointly to combat unsafe driving.”
Craft adds, “this grant brings both tactics together, with the Office of Traffic Safety and the San Ramon Police Department working in concert to help keep the streets and highways safe across San Ramon and the state.”
Activities that the grant will fund include:
- Educational presentations
- DUI saturation patrols
- Bicycle and pedestrian safety enforcement
- Distracted driving enforcement
- Seat belt and child safety seat enforcement
- Speed, red light, and stop sign enforcement
- Warrant service operations targeting multiple DUI offenders
- Compilation of DUI “Hot Sheets,” identifying worst-of-the-worst DUI offenders
- Specialized DUI and drugged driving training such as Standardized Field Sobriety Testing (SFST), Advanced Roadside Impaired Driving Enforcement (ARIDE), and Drug Recognition Evaluator (DRE)
Funding for this program is from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
