Police Receive Grant for Crash Prevention

The Newport Beach Police Department recently received a grant to fund a year-long program aimed at crash prevention and keeping motorists safe on the roadways, a police official reported Wednesday.

The $282,910 grant was awarded to police from the California Office of Traffic Safety to continue the department's efforts to prevent deaths and injuries on the roadways through enforcement and education.

"While the number of alcohol-involved accident victims is decreasing, we still have more work to do," Newport Beach police Lt. Jeff Lu said. "The Newport Beach Police Department is committed to using the funds provided through the Office of Traffic Safety to have more officers patrolling our roadways, in an effort to improve traffic safety."

Statewide between 2006 and 2010, traffic deaths from all causes decreased by about 39 percent, but increased by 2.6 percent in 2011, officials reported. State and federal officials anticipate that figures will show another rise for 2012.

According to authorities, DUI deaths remain the largest sector at nearly 30 percent of traffic fatalities and recent trends show an increase in distracted driving and drug-impaired driving.

The grant will fund:

• Specialized DUI and drugged driving training such as Standardized Field Sobriety Testing (SFST), Advanced Roadside Impaired Driving Enforcement (ARIDE), and Drug Recognition Evaluator (DRE)
• DUI Saturation Patrols
• Motorcycle safety enforcement
• Distracted driving enforcement
• Speed, red light and stop sign enforcement
• Warrant service operations targeting multiple DUI offenders
• Court “sting” operations to cite individuals driving from court after having their driver’s license suspended or revoked for drunk driving
• Stakeout operations to observe the “worst of the worst” repeat DUI offender probationers with suspended or revoked driver licenses
  

Click here for today's top stories on Newport Beach-Corona Del Mar Patch.