Modesto, CA police get $300K traffic grant

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http://www.modbee.com/2010/11/30/1452109/police-get-300k-traffic-grant.html
Modesto police get $300K traffic grant...
By Rosalio Ahumada rahumada@modbee.com
Modesto police have received a $300,000 state traffic safety grant to pull drunken drivers off the road, purchase equipment and reduce the number of motorcycle crashes.
The state Office of Traffic Safety grant, awarded earlier this month, funds efforts dealing with traffic safety problems.
"These additional funds will allow us to continue to strengthen our traffic safety enforcement efforts in order to reduce injuries and fatalities on our city streets," Modesto Police Chief Mike Harden said in a news release.
The department will use some of the money to buy a new trailer to haul equipment such as traffic cones, flares, barricades and signs used at sobriety checkpoints, said police spokesman Sgt. Rick Armendariz.
The grant also will be used to buy portable digital messaging signs that alert drivers to road conditions or sobriety checkpoints.
Traffic deaths declined in 2009 in California by 10.3 percent from 3,434 killed in 2008 to 3,081 in 2009, according to state officials.
The state recorded 950 deaths in alcohol-related crashes in 2009, a 7.6 percent decline from 1,025 in 2008. Driving under the influence deaths, however, still account for 31 percent of all fatalities statewide.
"Thousands are still losing their lives or being severely injured on our roadways," state traffic safety director Christopher Murphy said in the news release.
The grant will fund overtime for officers working at sobriety checkpoints and on roving saturation patrols.
The checkpoints aim to pull drunken drivers and those driving without a valid license off the road. The patrols involve officers assigned solely to drive around looking for drivers under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
Other traffic enforcement efforts will target speeders and red light violators. For the second consecutive year, Modesto police will use some of the grant money to conduct motorcycle safety enforcement.
Armendariz said extra officers will patrol areas frequented by motorcycles and crack down on traffic violations by motorcyclists and other drivers.