Paulding County Sheriff Jason K. Landers announced the Ohio Department of Public Safety’s (ODPS) Ohio Traffic Safety Office (OTSO) awarded $28,222.42 in federal traffic safety funding to his office for federal fiscal year 2016, running from October 1, 2015 through September 30, 2016.
“Partnerships are critical to the success of any safety effort and we are committed to working with safety partners to address traffic safety concerns in Paulding County,” said Sheriff Landers.
Paulding County Sheriff Office has identified traffic areas with higher number fatalities and serious traffic injuries throughout the county. To save lives and improve the quality of life for our citizens, the Sheriff’s Office will use the grant funds to participate in several blitz campaigns, including the “Click It or Ticket It” and “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” national campaigns.
The funds are passed through OTSO from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to support the efforts of safety partners statewide and focus on traffic safety priority areas such as restraint use, impaired driving, motorcycle safety and youthful drivers.
Competitive grant proposals are accepted and reviewed by OTSO. The FFY 2016 competitive grant process solicited grant proposals from state agencies, non-profit organizations, colleges, universities, hospitals, political subdivisions and other interested groups within selected Ohio counties and jurisdictions (based upon the number of fatal crashes).
The previous year’s grants allowed Paulding County Deputies to work road patrol an extra 514 hours. Many of these hours were spent on U.S. 24 with over 400 traffic stops resulting anywhere from speed citations to felony drug charges.
For more information about OTSO and statewide efforts to improve safety on Ohio’s roadways, log http://ohiohighwaysafetyoffice.ohio.gov/index.stm
