ICJI Awards Traffic Safety Grants To Help Decrease Reckless Driving

To date, over 20,000 people have been killed in crashes nationwide.

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INDIANAPOLIS – Steps are being taken to curb reckless driving. 

The Indiana Criminal Justice Institute awarded $6.5 million in traffic safety grants to more than 200 police departments throughout the state.

Each department will use the funds to conduct overtime patrols and carry out strategies to address reckless driving in Indiana.

Statewide, Indiana State Police was awarded $1,050,000.

Grants were also awarded to stand-alone police agencies and traffic safety partnerships (TSPs) made up of multiple agencies.

The Dearborn County Traffic Safety Partnership, which includes Lawrenceburg Police, Aurora Police, Dillsboro Police, Greendale Police, and the Dearborn County Sheriff’s Office, received a $35,550 grant.

The Franklin and Ripley County Traffic Safety Partnership, which includes Batesville Police, received a $24,000 grant.

According to the ICJI, an estimated 20,160 people have died in traffic crashes across the country in the first half of 2021, which is 3,140 more or an 18.4 percent increase compared to the same time last year.

As of early October, 683 people have been killed in crashes in Indiana. If the pace continues, Indiana could surpass 900 traffic fatalities by the end of the year, which would mark one of the highest death rates in the past decade.

“This should be a wake-up call for everyone in Indiana,” said Devon McDonald, ICJI Executive Director. “Lives are being lost at an alarming rate because people are choosing to speed and ignore the rules of the road. The reckless driving has to stop. Enough is enough.”

To address reckless driving, departments will use the funding to conduct “zero tolerance” overtime patrols and sobriety checkpoints, most of which will take place during dedicated enforcement periods throughout the year. The first one, starting in the next couple of weeks, is the Safe Family Travel campaign designed to cut down on impaired driving and promote seat belt use during the holiday season.

For more information, visit www.cji.in.gov.