Goleta Police Department awarded grant for traffic education and enforcement
GOLETA, Calif. - The Goleta Police Department was awarded a $70,000 grant on Thursday from the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) to maintain and improve road safety.
The grant was given to Goleta PD for a one-year enforcement and education program intended to reduce deaths and injuries on California roads.
"Getting in a vehicle remains one of the most dangerous things we do,” OTS director Barbara Rooney said. “We must continue to work with our partners in law enforcement to shift that realization and make traveling on our roads safer.”
The Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department said the funding from this grant will go towards programs such as:
- DUI/driver's license checkpoints.
- Patrols searching specifically for alcohol/drug-impaired drivers.
- Patrols targeting drivers violating the California hands-free cell phone law and vehicle code violations.
- Patrols targeting the primary causes for crashes such as speeding, improper turns, running stop signs or signals, right-of-way violations and driving on the wrong side of the road.
- Patrols targeting pedestrian and bicycle safety.
- Traffic safety education presentations for community members on distracted and impaired driving, bicycle and pedestrian safety.
- Creating "Hot Sheets" identifying repeat DUI offenders.
- Officer training to identify suspected impaired drivers and conduct sobriety tests.
The Sheriff's Office said activities funded by the grant will begin in the 2020 federal fiscal year which runs from Oct. 1, 2019 to Sept. 30, 2020.
