Federal Funds from the Ohio Traffic Safety Office Help Save Lives in Darke County
Darke County Sheriff Mark Whittaker announced the Ohio Department of Public Safety’s (ODPS) Ohio Traffic Safety Office (OTSO) awarded $20,059.29 in federal traffic safety funding to the Darke County Sheriff’s Office for federal fiscal year 2023.
”These funds are critical in ensuring that we are doing everything we possibly can to keep our local community safe,” said Sheriff Whittaker. “Speed, impaired driving, restraint use and driver inattention have been identified as major contributing factors to the majority of our serious crashes.
Traffic enforcement targeting these areas will be a priority for the Darke County Deputies and we are committed to working with our partners at the state level to address this safety issue.”
Crash data shows that 2,431 crashes on Darke County roadways, involving impaired driving, speed, lack of restraints caused 543 injuries and 30 fatalities in Darke County, over the three-year period of 2019, 2020 and 2021.
To reduce these numbers, the Darke County Sheriff’s Office will be conducting high-visibility enforcement, working overtime hours and holding educational and awareness events with the grant funds.
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, with funds awarded to projects that will have the greatest impact on reducing fatal crashes or significantly improving traffic safety systems.
For more information about OTSO and statewide efforts to improve safety on Ohio’s roadways, log on to http://ohiohighwaysafetyoffice.ohio.gov/index.stm.