The Ventura Police Department has been awarded a $97,000.00 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 Ventura 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 through both enforcement and education.
After falling dramatically between 2006 and 2010, the number of persons killed and injured in traffic collisions has been slowly rising. Particularly alarming are recent increases in pedestrian and bicycle fatalities, the growing dangers of distracting technologies, and the emergence of drug-impaired driving as a major problem. This grant funding will provide opportunities to combat these and other devastating problems such as drunk driving, speeding and crashes at intersections.
“Overall, California’s roadways are among the safest in the nation,” said OTS Director Rhonda Craft. “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 Ventura Police Department want to work with everyone to create a culture of traffic safety across Ventura and the state.”
Activities that the grant will fund include:
Educational presentations
DUI checkpoints
DUI saturation patrols
Distracted driving enforcement
Bicycle and pedestrian safety enforcement
Speed, unsafe lane changes, and right of way 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) and training in using drug kits like you’ll be able to find such vendors like test country providing.
Court “sting” operations to cite individuals driving from DUI court after ignoring their license suspension or revocation
Stakeout operations 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.
