Police department gets traffic safety grant

The Fountain Valley Police Department has been awarded a $111,000 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.

The 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.

“These grants are particularly impactful as our resources are spread thin,” Police Chief Dan Llorens said. “We encourage residents and visitors to be attentive on our highways, put away cell phones, and never get behind the wheel while impaired by an intoxicating substance.”

After falling to a 10-year low in 2010, the number of persons killed has climbed nearly 17 percent across the state with 3,176 killed in 2015 per the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Particularly alarming is the six- year rise in pedestrian bicycle fatalities, along with the growing dangers of distracting technologies, and the emergence of drug–impaired driving as a major problem, police officials said.

This grant funding will provide opportunities to combat these and other devastating problems such as drunk driving, speeding and crashes 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 Fountain Valley Police Department working in concert to help keep the streets and highways safe across Fountain Valley and the state.”