SBPD Awarded Traffic Education and Enforcement Grant

Source: Santa Barbara Police Department

The Santa Barbara Police Department received a $210,000 grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) for a one-year enforcement and education program. The money will fund various activities intended to reduce deaths and injuries on California roads.

Chief Lori Luhnow stated, “This grant is critical funding needed to achieve our City’s Vision Zero Strategy of eliminating collisions that result in serious injury and death.”

The grant-related activities are for the 2020 federal fiscal year, which runs from Oct. 1, 2019 to Sept. 30, 2020.

The funding from the OTS will be used for numerous programs, including:

• DUI/driver’s license checkpoints.
• Patrols specifically looking for suspected alcohol and/or drug-impaired drivers.
• Patrols targeting violations of California’s hands-free cell phone law and vehicle code violations by drivers, motorcyclists, bicyclists and pedestrians that put other roadway users at risk.
• Patrols targeting the primary causes of crashes: Speeding, improper turns, running stop signs or signals, right-of-way violations and driving on the wrong side of the road.
• Patrols specifically looking for seat belt and child safety seat violations.
• Creating “Hot Sheets” identifying repeat DUI offenders.
• Officer training to identify suspected impaired drivers and conduct sobriety tests.

“Getting in a vehicle remains one of the most dangerous things we do,” OTS director Barbara Rooney said. “We must continue to work with our partners in law enforcement to shift that realization and make traveling on our roads safer.”

Funding for this program was provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.