BOISE - The Idaho Transportation Department's Office of Highway Operations and
Safety secured three grants from the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration (NHTSA) totaling more than $1.5 million for Idaho's highway
safety activities.
ITD was awarded $500,000 under the Section 408 State Traffic Safety Information
System Improvement Grant Program. The money will be used to improve the traffic
records systems so that other program and project decisions can be made based
on accurate and complete data.
"Better
access to more reliable data, in turn, will allow your highway safety
professionals to design and manage more effective strategies for reducing
crashes, deaths and injuries," said Ronald L. Medford, NHTSA acting deputy
director, in the award letter.
"The actions that Idaho has taken in addressing these serious problems are to
be commended," he added.
NHTSA also awarded ITD $100,000 to support efforts to reduce deaths and serious
injuries related to motorcycles. The funds can be used to fund motorcycle
safety education programs and motorcycle awareness programs. Awards were made
to states that implement effective programs to reduce the number of crashes
involving motorcyclists.
Idaho qualified for the funding because the state offers motorcycle rider
training courses and uses fees collected from motorcyclists for motorcycle
programs.
More than $980,000 was awarded to ITD by NHTSA to continue work to reduce
traffic impaired driving in Idaho.
Idaho's portion of the Section 410 Alcohol Impaired Driving Countermeasures
Incentive Grant Program is about equal to last year.
Idaho received funding because the state's programs and laws met the grant
application criteria in the following areas; a high visibility enforcement
campaign, a prosecution and adjudication program, a blood alcohol concentration
testing program that met the minimum testing criteria, an alcohol
rehabilitation or driving while intoxicated court program and an underage
drinking prevention program.
Funding for the motorcycle and impaired driving highway safety efforts will be used to reduce traffic deaths in Idaho related to impaired driving and motorcycle crashes as part of Toward Zero Deaths, Every Life Counts, Idaho's efforts to reduce needless traffic deaths.