The San Luis Obispo Police Department was awarded a $120,000 grant from the Office of Traffic Safety and an additional $79,000 grant to improve traffic data reporting.
With the grant, the Police Department plans to roll out a police service program aimed at deterring dangerous and illegal driving behaviors.
“Impairment, speeding and other dangerous driving behaviors jeopardize the safety of other people on the road,” San Luis Obispo Police Sergeant Jeff Booth said. “This funding allows us to provide necessary traffic enforcement measures with the goal of reducing serious injury and fatal crashes on our roads.”
The money will go toward additional enforcement measures which include:
• DUI checkpoints and patrols specifically focused on suspected impaired drivers.
• Enforcement operations focused on suspected distracted drivers in violation of California’s hands-free cell phone law.
• Bicycle and pedestrian safety enforcement operations focused on driver behaviors that put vulnerable road users at risk.
• Enforcement operations focused on top violations that cause crashes: speeding, failure to yield, stop sign and/or red-light running, and improper turning or lane changes.
• Community education presentations on traffic safety issues such as distracted driving, DUI, speeding, and bicycle and pedestrian safety.
• Collaborative enforcement efforts with neighboring agencies.
• Officer training and/or recertification: Standard Field Sobriety Test (SFST), Advanced Roadside Impaired Driving Enforcement (ARIDE) and Drug Recognition Expert (DRE).
The grant program will run through September 2022.
