Robert Bentley awards $3.7 million to improve Labor Day, holiday highway safety

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Alabama Road sign

Gov. Robert Bentley on Thursday awarded nearly $3.7 million to help keep Alabama roads safe during the upcoming Labor Day weekend and other major traveling holidays during the next year.

Funds will be used by law enforcement agencies throughout the state to maintain a presence on highways including setting up checkpoints, increasing patrols on heavily traveled roads, and providing traffic monitoring.

“I am proud to award these funds to increase safety on all of Alabama’s more than 100,000 miles of roadways,” Gov. Bentley said. “Highway safety is a very important part of our overall efforts to increase public safety. By increasing the number of troopers and police on the roads, we look to increase driver awareness and adherence to our traffic safety laws.”

Bentley awarded $1.2 million to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency to keep more troopers on the road during heavy traffic times. The remaining funds will be distributed among the four traffic safety offices in the state, which allocate funds to local police and sheriff’s departments for use in their jurisdictions.

Allocations to each office are as follows:

  • North central region: $686,577
  • East central region: $669,581
  • Southwest region: $604,631
  • Southeast region: $536,127

The funds also help support major traffic safety campaigns like “Click it or Ticket” and “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over.” The Drive Sober campaign is now in full swing through Labor Day, with the aim of reducing highway injuries and deaths caused by impaired driving due to drugs or alcohol, and distracted driving.

Funds were made available to the state from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and are being administered by the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA).

“This program puts the funds into the hands of state and local law enforcement agencies who know exactly where patrols and police presence need to be,” ADECA Director Jim Byard Jr. said. “ADECA is pleased to partner with law enforcement across our state in this effort to reduce deaths and injuries on our state’s roads.”

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