The Ventura County Sheriff’s Office has been awarded a $ 438,000 grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) for a year-long enforcement and public awareness program.
The safety of everyone traveling is the focus of the grant awarded to the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department. The grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) will assist us in our efforts to reduce deaths and injuries on our county’s roads. Grant funded operations will occur in Sheriff’s patrol jurisdictions within the cities of Thousand Oaks, Moorpark, Camarillo, and Fillmore.
“These are trying times, and now more than ever, it is important that we are at the forefront of traffic safety,” Sergeant Carl Patterson said. “This funding allows us to educate and enhance the safety of all residents.”
The one-year grant is for the 2021 federal fiscal year, which runs from Oct. 1, 2020 to Sept. 30, 2021.
The grant will fund a variety of traffic safety programs, including:
- Patrols with emphasis on alcohol and drug-impaired driving
- Patrols with emphasis on awareness and education of California’s hands-free cell phone law.
- Patrols with emphasis on education of traffic rights for bicyclists and
- Patrols with emphasis on awareness and education of primary causes of crashes: excess speed, failure to yield, failure to stop at stop signs/signals, improper turning/lane
- Community education presentations on traffic safety issues such as distracted
- DUI, speed, bicycle and pedestrian
- Collaborative efforts with neighboring agencies on traffic safety
- Officer training and/or recertification: Standard Field Sobriety Test (SFST), Advanced Roadside Impaired Driving Enforcement (ARIDE) and Drug Recognition Expert (DRE).
“Through education and behavior changes, we hope to create an environment that is safe and equitable for all road users in our community,” Sergeant Carl Patterson said.
Funding for this program was provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.