PETALUMA (BCN) — Police in Petaluma have received a $190,000 grant from the state to fund the city’s a year-long schedule of special traffic enforcement operations and public awareness efforts to improve safety on the roads.
The California Office of Traffic Safety’s funding will be used to support educational presentations, DUI checkpoints and saturation patrols, motorcycle safety and distracted driving enforcement operations, police said.
Other applications include bicycle and pedestrian safety enforcement operations, red light and stop sign enforcement operations, and special efforts enforcing drunk and drugged driving laws.
Patrick Williams, chief of the Petaluma Police Department, said that traffic safety is one of the department’s highest priorities – and one of the greatest dangers facing area residents.
The number of people injured or killed in traffic collisions annually has been slowly growing since 2010, according to police.
Officers are particularly alarmed at a recent rise in pedestrian and bicycle fatalities, police said.