SFPD Receive Grant for Special Traffic Enforcement & Crash Prevention
San Francisco Police Department has been awarded a $255,000 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. San Francisco 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.
“Shortly after the tragic death of little 6 year old Sophia Liu, who was killed while crossing the street on New Year’s Eve in 2013, San Francisco committed to Vision Zero – a policy to eliminate all traffic deaths in San Francisco by 2024. This grant will help us get that much closer to our goal. Specifically, we will be focusing on drivers driving too fast in the areas of senior centers and schools where drivers should actually be traveling at much lower rates of speed because of the presence of our most vulnerable - seniors and children. We will also be focusing on those that choose to get behind the wheel while under the influence – inexcusable anywhere at any time. If every driver in San Francisco would commit to taking a little more care to slow down and drive more responsibly we could be a place where no one is ever seriously injured or killed in a traffic collision”, said Police Chief Greg Suhr.
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 San Francisco Police Department want to work with everyone to create a culture of traffic safety across San Francisco 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, red light, and stop sign 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.
#SFPD RECEIVES GRANT FOR SPECIAL TRAFFIC ENFORCEMENT AND CRASH PREVENTION.San Francisco Police Department has been...
Posted by San Francisco Police Department on Thursday, October 1, 2015