Full Notification

Last night the Berkeley City Council approved the Berkeley Police Department’s (BPD) use of a $180,000 grant awarded to them from the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS). The grant funds will enable BPD to field additional officers to help prevent deaths and injuries on Berkeley roadways, attend DUI related training and provide traffic safety presentations to the community.
 
“Unsafe driving behavior continues to be the primary cause of collisions in the City of Berkeley. We are committed to using equitable, data driven intelligence to provide both education and enforcement to support the City’s goal of eliminating fatal and serious collisions on Berkeley roadways.” (Vision Zero Program - City of Berkeley, CA)—Lieutenant Jen Tate.
 
The one-year grant is for the 2022 federal fiscal year, which runs from Oct. 1, 2021 to Sept. 30, 2022.
 
The grant will fund a variety of traffic safety programs, including:

• DUI checkpoints and patrols specifically focused on suspected impaired drivers.
• Enforcement operations focused on suspected distracted drivers in violation of California’s hands-free cell phone law.
• Bicycle and pedestrian safety enforcement operations focused on driver behaviors that put vulnerable road users at risk.
• Enforcement operations focused on top violations that cause crashes: speeding, failure to yield, stop sign and/or red-light running, and improper turning or lane changes.
• Community education presentations on traffic safety issues such as distracted driving, DUI, speeding, and bicycle and pedestrian safety.
• Collaborative enforcement efforts with neighboring agencies.
• Officer training and/or recertification: Standard Field Sobriety Test (SFST), Advanced Roadside Impaired Driving Enforcement (ARIDE) and Drug Recognition Expert (DRE).

“Through these education and enforcement efforts, we hope to correct bad driving behavior and ensure the safety of all those who walk, bike and motor within the City of Berkeley.”
 
Funding for this program was provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.