Burlingame Police Receive $70K Grant for Special Traffic Enforcement Operations

BURLINGAME, CA — The Burlingame Police Department has been awarded a $70,000.00 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 Burlingame 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.

“By partnering with the California Office of Traffic Safety, the Burlingame Police Department will
continue our commitment to improve the quality of life in Burlingame by educating the public and
enforcing the laws of dangerous driving habits in our neighborhoods.” said Burlingame’s Chief of Police,
Eric Wollman.

After falling to a ten year low in 2010, 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.
Particularly alarming is the six year rise in pedestrian and bicycle fatalities, along with 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.

“Years of research tell us that enforcement and education work best jointly to combat unsafe driving,”
said OTS Director Rhonda Craft. “This grant brings both tactics together, with the Office of Traffic
Safety and the Burlingame Police Department working in concert to help keep the streets and highways
safe across Burlingame and the state.”

Activities that the grant will fund include:

• DUI checkpoints
• DUI saturation patrols
• Bicycle and pedestrian safety enforcement
• Distracted driving enforcement
• 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.

— SUBMITTED FOR PUBLICATION BY THE BURLINGAME POLICE DEPARTMENT. (Image via Shutterstock)