BEVERLY HILLS—The Beverly Hills Police Department is enforcing a new effort called “The Selective Traffic Enforcement Program”(STEP), a project intended to help reduce the number of traffic-related injuries and fatalities that occur in the city each year.
Through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, BHPD was awarded a $202,000 grant by the California Office of Traffic Safety to help fund efforts in handling traffic safety issues and reducing traffic fatalities, as well as the continuing support of safe roadways through enforcement and education.
Part of the plan includes implementing special equipment and overtime to carry out special enforcement operations, and to help step up reinforcement in addressing Motorcycle Safety, D.U.I. offenders, motorists with suspended or revoked licenses and drivers who run red lights or violate safety belt regulations. These efforts will be conducted through special reinforcement operations such as D.U.I./driver’s license checkpoints.
“We are very proud of our efforts to reduce the number of impaired drivers operating on our roadways,” Chief David Snowden, of the BHPD, said in a prepared statement. “The Police Department is committed [to] making our roadways safer through continued operations emphasizing both enforcement and education. Grants, like the one we just received from the Office of Traffic Safety, make these specialized operations possible.”
Beverly Hills police reports that traffic deaths from all causes have shown a 10.3 percent reduction in California in 2009 from 3,434 fatalities in 2008 to 3,081 in 2009. The state has also recorded 950 alcohol-related driving fatalities in 2006 and a 7.6 percent reduction from 1,025 in 2008. However, the traffic fatalities that have been reported remain at 31 percent as a result of D.U.Is.
Addressing the traffic fatalities recorded in the state of California’s most recent statistics, Christopher J. Murphy, Director of the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) stated, “Everyone in California should be heartened with these figures, but as encouraging as this is, we can’t let up on the efforts to encourage and enforce traffic safety. Thousands are still losing their lives or being severely injured on our roadways.”
BHPD reports that for the second year in a row, the department will be conducting special Motorcycle Special Enforcement Operations through a system of additional on-duty patrol officers in areas that motorcyclists are known to frequent. Officers will step up reinforcement on traffic violations made by motorcyclists and other motorists in the efforts to reduce collisions, injuries and deaths.
BHPD further reports that deaths from motorcycle accidents had spiked for the decade that preceded the eventual decrease in 2009, in which 393 motorcycle deaths have been reported, which is a 29 percent decrease from the statistics reported in 2008.
“More people are making it home safely and alive each day,” Murphy states. “But to keep this trend going, we will continue to strive to meet our vision—toward zero deaths, every ‘1’ counts.”
