MVPD Receives Grant For Special Traffic Enforcement, Crash Prevention

MORENO VALLEY>> Moreno Valley Police Department has been awarded a $153,063 grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety for a year-long program of special enforcement and public awareness efforts to prevent traffic related deaths and injuries. Moreno Valley Police Department will use the funding as part of the city’s ongoing commitment to keep the roadways safe and improve the quality of life through both enforcement and education. After falling to a ten year low in 2010, the number of persons killed has climbed nearly 17 percent across the state with 3,176 killed in 2015, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The grant funding will provide opportunities to combat these and other devastating problems such as drunk driving, speeding and collisions at intersections. “Years of research tell us that enforcement and education work best jointly to combat unsafe driving,” said OTS Director Rhonda Craft. “This grant brings both tactics together, with the Office of Traffic Safety and the Moreno Valley Police Department working in concert to help keep the streets and highways safe across Moreno Valley and the state.” 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; speed, red light, and stop sign enforcement; warrant service operations targeting multiple DUI offenders; compilation of DUI “Hot Sheets,” identifying worst-of-the-worst 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; and stakeout operations to observe the “worst-of-the-worst” repeat DUI offender probationers with suspended or revoked driver licenses. Funding for this program is from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.