Sheriff's Dept. Announces Safety Grants: Lake Elsinore, Wildomar

LAKE ELSINORE-WILDOMAR, CA — The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department announced Thursday it received two state grants that will be used to help make streets safer for drivers, cyclists and pedestrians in Lake Elsinore and Wildomar.

A $57,847 grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety will assist in efforts to reduce deaths and injuries on City of Lake Elsinore roads, while the City of Wildomar received $36,112 from the OTS for its roadways, according to the sheriff's department.

Both cities contract separately through the sheriff's department for police services. Deputies that patrol the cities are based out of the Lake Elsinore Sheriff's Station.

The one-year grants are for the 2021 federal fiscal year, which runs from October 1, 2020 to September 30, 2021, according to the sheriff's department.

The department said the grants will fund a variety of traffic safety programs, including:

• Patrols with emphasis on alcohol and drug-impaired driving prevention.
• Patrols with emphasis on awareness and education of California’s hands-free cell phone law.
• Patrols with emphasis on education of traffic rights for bicyclists and pedestrians.
• Patrols with emphasis on awareness and education of primary causes of crashes: excess speed, failure to yield, failure to stop at stop signs/signals, improper turning/lane changes.

The grants from the OTS are through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.