The California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) has awarded the Roseville Police Department a $100,000 grant to combat DUI. The grant kicked off October 1 and will run through September 30, 2009, providing overtime and equipment for sobriety checkpoints, DUI saturation patrols and DUI warrant sweeps.
Roseville Police Chief Mike Blair said, “Roseville is a safer place to drive because of OTS’s continuing support. Fewer people are being injured in traffic collisions. But we are still very concerned about impaired driving, and we’re strongly committed to combating DUI through aggressive enforcement and education.”
Overall, traffic safety is improving in Roseville. Total fatal and injury collisions declined seven percent from 2003 to 2007, at the same time the city’s population increased 14 percent.
However, alcohol and drug-impaired driving is still a major problem locally. DUI-related collisions increased four percent from 2003 to 2007, and Roseville officers arrested 923 suspected drunk drivers in 2007, 52 percent more than in 2003. During the same five year period, six people were killed and 276 people were injured by drunken drivers. With the support of City Council and supplemental funding from the Office of Traffic Safety, Roseville Police have battled the problem with full time DUI enforcement officers, frequent sobriety checkpoints, special DUI patrols, and educational programs like Every Fifteen Minutes, the High School Safety Belt Challenge, and real DUI trials in the high schools.
“Impaired driving is a serious crime that kills and injures thousands every year in California,” said Christopher J. Murphy, Director of the Office of Traffic Safety. “This grant will help get drunk drivers off the roadways of Roseville, making it safer for everyone.”
Funding for the grant comes from the Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
