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By Lookout Staff

November 3, 2011 -- Santa Monica Police will launch a year-long program aimed at preventing deaths and injuries on city roadways thanks to a $158,000 traffic safety grant.

Awarded by the Office of Traffic Safety (OTS), the grant will bankroll special traffic enforcement measures and assist in efforts to deal with traffic safety problems.

The measures will "specifically target motorcycle safety, DUI offenders, drivers with suspended or revoked licenses, red light running, speeding, and seatbelt violations," said Police Chief Timothy Jackman. "This will be done through the use of DUI/driver's license checkpoints and special enforcement operations."

Traffic deaths from all causes declined in California by 11.9 percent, from 3,081 killed in 2009 to 2,715 in 2010, with more than 30 percent of traffic fatalities caused by motorists driving under the influence (DUI), according to state transportation officials.

"Thanks to the dedicated hard work of agencies like the Santa Monica Police Department, California has the fewest traffic fatalities since 1944," said OTS Director Christopher J. Murphy.

"While this is good news, we know that only by keeping the pressure on, through enforcement and public awareness, can we hope to sustain these declines and save lives," Murphy said

A key component of the grant will be widely-publicized DUI/driver's license checkpoints meant to deter impaired driving, not to increase arrests, police said.

"Research shows that crashes involving alcohol drop by an average of 20 percent when well-publicized checkpoints are conducted often enough," police officials said.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), checkpoints have provided the most effective documented results of any of the DUI enforcement strategies, while yielding considerable cost savings of six dollars for every dollar spent.

Grant funding will also allow more officers to receive specialized training to detect impaired motorists driving under the influence of legal and illegal drugs and assess them on-the-spot, police said.

The grant also will fund specialized motorcycle safety enforcement efforts throughout the next 12 months, with extra officers on duty patrolling areas and events where motorcycle crashes and incidents have taken place, officials said.

"Officers will be cracking down on traffic violations made by regular vehicle drivers and motorcyclists that result in far too many motorcycle collisions, injuries and deaths," said Sgt. Richard Lewis, the Police Department spokesman.

According to state transportation officials, motorcycle fatalities have finally dropped in California following a decade-long rise in deaths. In 2010, 353 motorcyclists were killed, a 37 percent drop from the all-time high for California in 2008.

"We are on the right path with declining fatalities," said Murphy. "We have to stick to that path so that someday we can reach the vision we all share -- toward zero deaths, every one counts."

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