GRASS VALLEY, Calif. October 4, 2018 – Saving lives is the core mission of the California Highway Patrol(CHP). In order to accomplish this mission, the CHP Grass Valley and Auburn Area offices will jointly use a federal grant to conduct a safety campaign to reduce traffic collisions and collision victims attributed to unsafe speed, improper turning, and wrong side of road violations in Nevada and Placer Counties. The project started on October 1, 2018, and ends on September 30, 2019.
The CHP Grass Valley Area will deploy officers on enhanced enforcement on State Routes 49, 20, and 174; and Nevada County roadways where CHP Grass Valley Area has jurisdiction, such as Rough And Ready Highway, Dog Bar, Wolf Creek, and McCourtney Roads. In addition to enhanced enforcement, this traffic safety effort will include a community-based task force, and public awareness and education campaign to reinforce key traffic safety messages.
“Our public education campaign is centered around the slogan, ‘Be Aware, Drive with Care,’ to reduce the number of victims killed and injured in traffic collisions attributed to unsafe speed, improper turning, and wrong side of road violations,” said CHP Lieutenant George Steffensen, Commander of the Grass Valley Area office. “This grant will allow us to focus additional resources and enforcement on problematic roadways, throughout Nevada County, to reduce collisions and save lives.”
According to the CHP’s Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System, between October 1, 2015, and September 30, 2016, there were 260 people injured and killed in traffic collisions attributed to unsafe speed, improper turning, and wrong side of road violations on state highways and unincorporated roads patrolled by the CHP Grass Valley Area in Nevada County.
Funding for this program was provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.