CA- Motorcycle Safety Enforcement Operations

[karen]

Cops To Bust DUI Culprits - Daily Nexus
Cops To Bust DUI Culprits

Police Get Grant for Motorcycle Safety Program

By Emily Nelson / Reporter
Published Thursday, November 5, 2009

The Santa Barbara Police Dept. will begin an aggressive enforcement of DUI laws this month.
The department recently received a $194,000 grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, which will allow the department to keep more police officers on duty for longer hours and fund specific operations such as red light monitoring. Police will specifically target motorcyclists, hoping to put a tourniquet on the rising number of motorcycle deaths.
Santa Barbara Police Sgt. Noel Rivas said the city has an unusually high number of drunk drivers.
“Based on the 2007 rankings, the city of Santa Barbara was ranked fifth for DUI offenses out of 106 similar-sized California cities,” Rivas said. “We are hoping with the grant funding that we can reduce the number of persons killed or injured in alcohol collisions.”
Police, however, have already been busy enforcing DUI laws. Over Halloween weekend, officers with the Santa Barbara City Police Dept. arrested 11 drivers for drinking and driving.
Among them was a 31-year-old man arrested last Friday after crashing his truck at the corner of Bath Street and Mission Street.
Rivas said people should be conscious of the dangers of driving.
“Drivers need to be more attentive,” Rivas said. “You are driving a 6,000 pound car, so be more conscientious. Designate a person to drive and follow the rules of the road.”
To prevent drunk driving, the city will also use the grant money to fund DUI checkpoints, as well as sting operations. Police plan to catch drivers with suspended licenses if they attempt to drive away from court.
Police also plan to establish special Motorcycle Safety Enforcement Operations. Motorcycle fatalities in California have increased by 175 percent over the last decade. According to the SBPD, 560 riders died in the state in 2008, up from 204 in 1998.
Rivas said the grant will fund these special operations until September 2010.
“Each operation will be overtime for officers,” Rivas said. “There are 12 checkpoints in Santa Barbara County, known as ‘Avoid the 12,’ or the 12 law enforcement agencies. An officer on duty will check a suspected driver for DUI in one of the checkpoints and also check for a valid license.”
In addition to catching DUI offenders within city limits, county law enforcement has also been busy addressing the problem of drunk driving in Goleta.
Seven people were arrested in Goleta last weekend on suspicion of drunk driving.
One driver screamed obscenities and challenged police as he was arrested. The man even kicked a police car door, increasing the list of charges against him. On further investigation, police found the uncooperative suspect had a $10,000 warrant for his arrest.




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[Serg06]

Lots of focus on Ca. Bastards. Thanks for the heads up. I'll alert our buddies around my neck of the woods.

[karen]

...motorcycle safety through the use of checkpoints and special enforcement operations.

City of West Covina gets funding for traffic enforcement - SGVTribune.com

City of West Covina gets funding for traffic enforcement
Posted: 11/07/2009 09:00:00 PM PST

The state's office of traffic safety awarded West Covina a $45,737 grant to be used for the enforcement of safer streets.

The Selective Traffic Enforcement Program grant's purpose is to assist in efforts to deal with traffic safety problems and reduce the number of persons killed and injured in traffic collisions.

The grant activities will target driving under the influence offenders, red light running, problematic intersections, speeders, motorcycle safety through the use of checkpoints and special enforcement operations.

The grant will also fund court stings targeting DUI offenders with suspended or revoked driver's licenses who get behind the wheel after leaving court.

Funding for this program was provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

To submit information for briefs, e-mail news.tribune@sgvn.com

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[dirtydan]

I wonder the true purpose of these grants. Personally, I believe it's just a way to pay cops overtime and inflate their wages. I don't buy that the government is trying to protect me from a damned thing.

[Ravenrigidrider]

Originally Posted by dirtydan

I wonder the true purpose of these grants. Personally, I believe it's just a way to pay cops overtime and inflate their wages. I don't buy that the government is trying to protect me from a damned thing.

[Serg06]

Originally Posted by dirtydan

I wonder the true purpose of these grants. Personally, I believe it's just a way to pay cops overtime and inflate their wages. I don't buy that the government is trying to protect me from a damned thing.

i think your right on Dan. Cops or Gov don't give a rats ass about any of us. Fuck them. Fuck them all!!!

[karen]

“We're planning to have four checkpoints and 15 saturation patrols over the term of the grant,” Bianco said

State to aid city's DUI crackdown | mydesert.com | The Desert Sun

State to aid city's DUI crackdown
Gina Tenorio • gina.tenorio@palmdesertsun.com • November 12, 2009

The Palm Desert Police department has received a California Office of Traffic Safety grant for $163,167 to help the city curb the number of DUI-related crashes.

“We'll be able to use this grant for public education programs, DUI and license checkpoints and saturation patrols,” said Sgt. Mike Bianco said.

The grant also will fund the purchase of a new trailer that will haul equipment used at checkpoints, Bianco said.

Police officials have been working to improve the city's standing in Office of Traffic Safety rankings over the past year. In 2008, the city received a $111,706 grant from the OTS after ranking eighth out of 97 reporting cities (with populations under 50,000) in the number of fatal and injury traffic collisions. It ranked ninth out of the 97 in alcohol related crashes.

According to the updated rankings, Palm Desert now ranks 13 out of 106 reporting cities in the number of crashes involving alcohol and 14th out of 106 in the number of fatal and injury collisions.

“We're not as bad as we were,” Bianco said. “The ranking has changed a little bit but it is still too high.”

As with most grants, the department must comply with certain requirements or forfeit the grant.

To fulfill one requirement imposed this year, the department had to conduct a motorcycle DUI enforcement program due to an increasing number of motorcycle collisions, Bianco said.

“We were able to comply with that requirement already during the Palm Springs bike event,” Bianco said.

The department conducted saturation patrols during last month's Palm Springs, American Heat — Palm Springs Motorcycle Weekend, he said.

“We're planning to have four checkpoints and 15 saturation patrols over the term of the grant,” Bianco said.

Two DUI warrant sweeps will also be conducted.

“We'll be going to their place of work or home and make the arrest there,” Bianco said.


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[karen]

Whittier police commence special traffic program - Whittier Daily News

Whittier police commence special traffic program
Posted: 11/14/2009 06:10:59 AM PST

More traffic enforcement and safer streets are coming to Whittier throughout the month as a result of a recent $123,512 grant awarded by the California Office of Traffic Safety.

The Selective Traffic Enforcement Program grant is to assist in efforts to deal with increased traffic safety problems such as DUI offenders, suspended or revoked licenses, illegal street racing, red-light running and seat belt violations.

This will be done through the use of DUI and driver's license checkpoints and DUI Saturation Patrol Units.

The grant also provides funding for overtime to conduct special enforcement activities such as strictly regulating violations made by motorcyclists as part of the Motorcycle Safety Enforcement Operations.

For information contact Sgt. Dan Lowe at (562) 945-8256.

Send submissions for "Around Whittier" to news.wdn@sgvn.com

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[karen]

Under the grant requirements, police must also conduct two operations directed at motorcyclists.

Smith had planned to educate motorcyclists about road safety at the annual Love Ride in Glendale, but it was canceled, so officers may target drivers who don’t yield to motorcyclists.

Glendale News Press > Publicsafety
Police add radar gun alternative

New lidar guns, which are more accurate, are awarded through safety grant. By Veronica Rocha
Published: Last Updated Monday, November 16, 2009 10:05 PM PST

GLENDALE — All the city’s traffic cops will soon be outfitted with next-generation speed-detection guns as part of a $150,302 state grant, officials said Monday.

The Glendale Police Department will use $22,500 of the California Office of Traffic Safety grant to purchase five lidar guns to ensure each officer, detective and sergeant in the traffic bureau has one available to them at all times, Glendale Police Sgt. Dennis Smith said.

Lidar is more effective than radar because it is more accurate, he said.

“It accurately measures the velocity and also the range of a target,” Smith said.

Radar has a conical beam, which becomes wider as it tries to detect speeds, he said.

The remaining grant funding will pay for special enforcement activities.

The competitive grant, which is from the state agency’s Selective Traffic Enforcement Program, funds activities concerning traffic safety issues that mostly deal with drunk driving, said the agency’s spokesman, Chris Cochran.

But the grant can also be used to target speeding, red-light running and motorcycle safety issues, he said.

Glendale likely received the grant to improve pedestrian-involved collision rates and the number of drunk-driving arrests, Cochran said.

“What we are going to do is constantly look at our statistics and also the complaints that come in,” Smith said.

West Glenoaks Boulevard has been on the Police Department’s radar because some motorists use it as a speedway.

But police said they are also keeping an eye on Chevy Chase Drive, Verdugo Road, Pacific Avenue and Victory and Cañada boulevards, where they’ve conducted speed enforcement in the past.

“If they see a bunch of officers out on a certain roadway, then they are going to be less apt to speed,” Smith said.

The grant will also pay for pedestrian education.

The police traffic bureau will be constantly reviewing collision statistics to determine where it can expend its resources, he said. Part of that will include public outreach.

In the past, police have visited the city’s Adult Recreation Center, churches and community markets.

“If we can reach a lot of people, that’s what we want to do,” he said.

“If we could get community involvement, that would be great as well.”

Under the grant requirements, police must also conduct two operations directed at motorcyclists.

Smith had planned to educate motorcyclists about road safety at the annual Love Ride in Glendale, but it was canceled, so officers may target drivers who don’t yield to motorcyclists.

At Victory Boulevard and Western Avenue, a motorcyclist was fatally wounded in a crash with a FedEx truck in 2006, he said. The motorcyclist was wearing only a novelty helmet.

Two years later, a motorcyclist was seriously injured in crash at that same intersection.

Public education and specialized enforcement will also be critical to reducing the number of vehicle-pedestrian collisions in the city, he said.

“We have tried a bunch of different innovative ways to combat this problem, and I think this is a very powerful way of doing it,” Smith said.

“If we can reach people to let them know ‘You can have the right of way; however, it may not be safe to take it,’ I just think it is very important that they realize that they have to be constantly vigilant because they could easily become a statistic.”

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[karen]

California FY2010 Highway Safety Plan
PDF: 123 pages
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/nhtsa/whats.../CAFY10HSP.pdf

Motorcycle safety enforcement:
Page: 10-PT-3

Selective Traffic Enforcement and Education Program (STEEP)
Cities conducting motorcycle related enforcement objectives:

Whittier
Ontario
Beverly Hills
Los Angeles
Daly City
Santa Barbara
Glendale
West Covina
San Bernardino
Los Banos
Fountain Valley
Folsom
Coalinga
San Mateo
Costa Mesa
Kingsburg
Larkspur
Oakland
Elk Grove
Signal Hill
Long Beach
Hawthorne
Murrieta
Pasadena
Rialto
Irvine
Modesto

Page 10-PT-6:
PT1041 –California Highway Patrol: Look Twice, Save a Life
The California Highway Patrol (CHP) will implement a 24-month grant focusing on reducing motorcyclist fatalities and injuries, throughout the four counties with the highest statistics within CHP jurisdictions. The targeted counties are Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange, and San Bemardino. This will be accomplished by enhanced enforcement, including aerial support, public education campaigns to increase drivers’ awareness of sharing the road with motorcyclists, and motorcycle safety, outreach, and education efforts.


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