Folsom, CA - receives $180,000 for safety grant

OFF THE WIRE
http://blogs.sacbee.com/crime/archives/2011/11/folsom-police-receive-180000-grant-for-traffic-safety-programs.html
November 14, 2011 Folsom police receive $180,000 grant for traffic safety programs,
 aimed a preventing deaths and injuries on the city's roadways.
The grant awarded by the California Office of Traffic Safety will help fund equipment purchases and special traffic enforcement measures.
Grant-funded activities will specifically target speed and intersection violations that are the greatest contributors to injury collisions in the city, according to a Police Department news release.
The department also will target impaired drivers and those driving without driver's licenses, through saturation patrols and DUI/driver's license checkpoints. Officials said research shows that crashes involving alcohol drop by an average of 20 percent when well-publicized checkpoints are conducted often enough.
Grant funding will allow three officers to receive specialized training to detect drivers impaired by legal and illegal drugs. The training will provide for on-the-spot assessment of drivers suspected of impairment.
For the third consecutive year, the department also will have three special motorcycle safety enforcement operations. Officials say motorcycle fatalities have dropped in California following a decadelong rise. In 2010, 353 motorcyclists were killed statewide, a 37 percent drop from the all-time high for California in 2008.
During the next 12 months, Folsom police will conduct specialized enforcement efforts, with extra officers patrolling areas and events where motorcycle crashes and incidents have occurred. Officers will crack down on violations by motorcyclists and other motorists that result in many of the motorcycle collisions, injuries and deaths.