South Lake Tahoe, CA…The South Lake Tahoe Police Department has been awarded a $33,200 grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) for a year-long program aimed at preventing deaths and injuries on our roadways through special enforcement and public awareness efforts. The grant received by South Lake Tahoe will aid in the city’s ongoing effort to improve traffic safety and quality of life. The South Lake Tahoe Police Department will use the funding as part of an on-going commitment to keep our roadways safe through both enforcement and education.

“We take traffic safety very seriously in South Lake Tahoe. With this grant funding we will be able to directly address the causes of injury collisions within our community” said Sergeant Shannon Laney.

The grant will assist in efforts to deal with traffic safety problems and to reduce the number of persons killed and injured in traffic collisions. While traffic deaths from all causes declined by nearly 39 percent between 2006 and 2010 in California, they rose by 2.6 percent in 2011. State and federal officials anticipate that figures will show another rise for 2012. DUI deaths remain the largest sector, at nearly 30 percent of traffic fatalities. Recent trends show increases in two new categories – distracted driving and drug-impaired driving.

Activities that the grant will fund include:

· 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

· Seat belt and child safety seat enforcement

· Speed, red light and stop sign enforcement

· Pedestrian safety

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