Mahoning Co. to get funds for OVI enforcement in 2010

The money will be used for sobriety checkpoints, zero-tolerance blitzes and seat-belt education.

staff report

GOSHEN — The Ohio Department of Public Safety’s Ohio Traffic Safety Office has awarded $125,068 in federal traffic-safety funding to the Mahoning County Operating a Vehicle while Impaired Task Force and Mahoning Safe Communities for federal fiscal year 2010.

“Partnerships are critical to the long-term success of any safety effort, and we are committed to working with law enforcement and other local and state partners to address traffic-safety concerns in Mahoning County,” said Susan Viars, Mahoning Safe Communities coordinator. “These funds will help ensure that we can dedicate time and personnel to these efforts.”

The entities will use the grant funds to carry out sobriety checkpoints, zero-tolerance blitzes and seat-belt education.

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 youth drivers. In the past three years, Ohio’s traffic fatalities have decreased to near- record lows.

There were 1,191 fatalities on Ohio’s roads in 2008, down from 1,257 in 2007 and 1,239 in 2006. The OVI Task Force and Safe Communities are working to continue that trend in Mahoning County.

Competitive grant proposals are accepted and reviewed by the safety office. The FFY 2010 competitive grant process solicited state agencies, nonprofit organizations, colleges, universities, hospitals, political subdivisions and other interested groups within selected Ohio counties and jurisdictions based upon the number of fatal crashes.