Full Notification

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                             
Sergeant Shane Armstrong
[email protected]
(805) 928-3781 x1209

December 12, 2025

Santa Maria Police Department Awarded Grant from the Office of Traffic Safety for Traffic Enforcement Program to Increase Safety on Roads.

Santa Maria, Calif. – The Santa Maria Police Department has been awarded a $300,000 grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS). This funding will support the department’s ongoing traffic safety enforcement and education programs aimed at reducing serious injuries and fatalities on local roadways.

“This grant gives us the resources needed to expand proactive traffic enforcement and safety education. Our goal is to reduce serious injuries and fatalities, and this funding helps us continue making our roadways safer for all who live, work, and travel in Santa Maria,” said Sergeant Armstrong.

The grant will support a variety of traffic safety operations and resources, including:

• DUI checkpoints and saturation patrols targeting suspected impaired drivers.
• High-visibility distracted driving enforcement addressing violations of California’s hands-free cell phone law.
• Pedestrian and bicycle safety operations focused on reducing dangerous driving behaviors that put vulnerable road users at risk.
• Enforcement details concentrating on primary collision factors such as speeding, failure to yield, red-light and stop-sign violations, and improper turning or lane changes.
• Community education presentations covering distracted driving, impaired driving, speeding, and pedestrian and bicycle safety.
• Collaborative enforcement operations with neighboring law enforcement agencies.
• Officer training and/or recertification, including Standardized Field Sobriety Testing (SFST), Advanced Roadside Impaired Driving Enforcement (ARIDE), and Drug Recognition Expert (DRE) coursework.

The grant program will run through September 2026.
Funding for this program was provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.