MVPD Awarded $70K Grant For Traffic Safety

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA –The Mountain View Police Department was awarded a $70,000 grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety for a year-long program of special enforcement and public awareness efforts to prevent traffic related deaths and injuries.

The Mountain View 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.

“Traffic safety throughout our community is a top priority for Mountain View PD,” said Lt. Saul Jaeger. “We’re honored to have been awarded this grant and look forward to the continued partnership with our community, our allied agencies and all roadway users. Traffic Safety is everyone’s responsibility.”

After falling to a 10-year low in 2010, the number of persons killed has climbed nearly 17 percent 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 problems such as drunk driving, speeding and crashes at intersections.

Activities that the grant will fund include:

• Educational presentations
• DUI saturation patrols
• Bicycle and pedestrian safety enforcement
• Motorcycle safety enforcement & education
• Distracted driving enforcement & education
• 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)

“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 Mountain View Police Department working in concert to help keep the streets and highways safe across Mountain View and the state.”

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--Info courtesy of MVPD/Image via Shutterstock