SPRINGFIELD — Speeding and distracted driving are problems on some of the long corridors through the city. With a $59,999 grant from the state’s Municipal Road Safety Grant Program, the Springfield Police Department aims to reduce that.
The funding is part of $12.41 million in National Highway Traffic Safety Administration funding administered by the Healey-Driscoll administration for road and traffic safety programs.
“Everyone deserves to be safe on Massachusetts streets, whether traveling by car, foot, public transportation or bike. As individual communities work to address their unique traffic safety concerns, these programs provide resources and supports that will ensure they have the tools they need to protect road users,” Gov. Maura Healey said in a press release.
In Springfield, the funds will pay for six traffic enforcement campaigns: “Winter Impaired Driving,” “Distracted Driving,” “Click It Or Ticket,” “June Speed Enforcement,” “July Speed Enforcement,” and “Summer Impaired Driving.” The programs are run each year with help from the state grant.
“We believe they have been successful, especially during the enforcement months, but it is difficult to track,” said Springfield Police Department Public Information Officer Ryan Walsh. “The goal is compliance and to change behaviors which would lead to fewer fatal or serious crashes. There is an education portion to these enforcement efforts as well, its success would be determined over a much longer period of a person’s driving history.”
The campaigns will be conducted across the city, but Walsh said there are certain corridors where the enforcement campaigns will be focused, namely the long thoroughfares of Parker Street, Page Boulevard, Boston Road, State Street, Main Street and Sumner Avenue.
In a press release, Public Safety and Security Secretary Terrence Reidy said, “The initiatives funded through these grant programs will ensure that drivers in communities across the state are better informed and safer behind the wheel. These grants promote strong partnerships between nonprofits, community members and public safety officials. Those relationships are key to our public safety strategy.”
