Sheriff’s Office, Albion PD approved for state traffic safety grants

The state has approved $28.3 million in federal highway safety grants for 550 programs throughout the state, including traffic service and child passenger safety programs run by the Albion Police Department and Orleans County Sheriff’s Office.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the grants will improve overall highway safety and reduce the number of fatalities and serious injuries resulting from motor vehicle crashes.

The Albion Police Department was approved for $6,235 for a police traffic service program and $1,000 for a child passenger safety effort.

The Orleans County Sheriff’s Office was awarded $8,280 for police traffic service and $1,400 for child passenger safety.

“This funding will strengthen our highway safety programs by providing resources for training, education and enforcement initiatives to benefit communities across New York,” Cuomo said. “By helping New Yorkers mitigate dangerous and reckless behavior behind the wheel, these programs will help improve highway safety, prevent avoidable tragedies and save lives.”

The Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee is distributing the funding in the form of grants to state, local and not-for-profit agencies to support specific types of driver safety initiatives:

Police Traffic Service: Initiatives by law enforcement agencies to target dangerous driver behaviors. This includes participation in the national Click It or Ticket seat belt mobilization and other enforcement initiatives aimed at preventing speeding and aggressive driving.

Child Passenger Safety: Child passenger safety education, car seat checks, the distribution of seats, and setting up child seat fitting stations.

Highway Safety Grants: State, local and not-for-profit programs that cover additional traffic safety efforts that include education initiatives, drunk and drugged driving enforcement, traffic records improvements, trainings, crash reconstruction and railroad crossing safety.