The Sacramento Police Department has been awarded a new traffic safety grant for a year-long anti-DUI program aimed at preventing deaths and injuries on city roadways. The grant, awarded by the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS), totals $621,159.  The Sacramento Police Department and OTS are committed to keeping our streets safe through enforcement and education.

The DUI Team will use a variety of strategies to target impaired drivers and educate the public about the dangers associated with drinking and driving including: DUI checkpoints, warrant sweeps, surveillance of repeat DUI offenders, DUI saturation patrols, and court sting operations. Drunk driving remains one of America's deadliest crimes. In 2009, over 10,839 people died in highway crashes involving a driver or motorcycle operator with a blood alcohol content of .08 or higher. Last year in California, 950 people died in alcohol impaired crashes; a 7.6 percent reduction in deaths from 2008.  "Everyone in California should be heartened with these figures," said Christopher J. Murphy, Director of the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS).  "But as encouraging as this is, we can't let up on the efforts to promote and enforce traffic safety.  Far too many are still losing their lives or being severely injured on our roadways."

The DUI Enforcement Team will also be conducting special Motorcycle Safety Enforcement Operations.  Officers will be enforcing traffic violations made by motorcyclists, and other vehicle drivers, that result in motorcycle collisions, injuries and deaths.  

Motorcycle fatalities have finally turned and dropped in California, following an 11 year, 175 percent rise in deaths.  In 2009, 393 motorcyclist were killed, a 29 percent drop from 2008 statistics.  Sadly, California remains one of 3 states that still lead the nation in motorcyclist's deaths.

The Sacramento Police Department would like to thank the California Office of Traffic Safety and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for funding these operations.