Full Notification

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 25, 2017
CONTACT: Sergeant Jeremy Walsh, Petaluma Police Department, 707-778-4596, [email protected]

PETALUMA POLICE DEPARTMENT RECEIVES GRANT FOR SPECIAL TRAFFIC ENFORCEMENT AND CRASH PREVENTION

The Petaluma Police Department has been awarded a $140,000 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. The Petaluma 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.

The Petaluma Police Department recognizes the importance of maintaining a strong focus in the area of traffic education, awareness and enforcement. “This grant from the Office of Traffic Safety will provide supplemental funding in order to enhance our proactive efforts in the area of traffic safety,” said Lieutenant Tim Lyons.

After falling to a ten year low in 2010, the number of persons killed has climbed nearly 17 percent across the state, with 3,429 fatalities in 2015. Particularly alarming is the rise in pedestrian and bicycle fatalities that now comprise nearly 25 percent of all traffic deaths, along with the growing dangers of distracting technologies and the emergence of drug-impaired driving. This grant funding will provide opportunities to combat these and other devastating problems such as drunk driving, speeding and crashes at intersections.

“Unsafe behaviors account for 94 percent of traffic crashes,” said OTS Director Rhonda Craft. “This grant emphasizes the two most effective ways to change behaviors- education and enforcement. The Petaluma Police Department, with the assistance from the Office of Traffic Safety, will use these tools to help keep Petaluma’s streets safe.”

Activities that the grant will fund include:
• Educational presentations
• DUI checkpoints
• DUI saturation patrols
• Bicycle and pedestrian safety enforcement
• Motorcycle safety enforcement
• Distracted driving enforcement
• Night-time “Click It or Ticket” Seat belt enforcement
• Speed, red light, and stop sign enforcement
• Warrant service operations targeting multiple DUI offenders
• Specialized DUI and drugged driving training such as Standardized Field Sobriety Testing (SFST), Advanced Roadside Impaired Driving Enforcement (ARIDE), and Drug Recognition Evaluator (DRE)
• Court “sting” operations to cite individuals driving from DUI court after ignoring their license suspension or revocation

While alcohol remains the worst offender for DUI crashes, the Petaluma Police Department supports the new effort from OTS that aims to drive awareness that “DUI Doesn’t Just Mean Booze.” Prescription medications and marijuana can also be impairing by themselves, or in combination with alcohol, and can result in a DUI arrest.

Funding for this program is from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.