Marion County Sheriff Tim Bailey announced today the Governor’s Highway Safety Office has awarded the Sheriff’s Office a $43,211.17 grant for the year 2018. The grant will fund overtime salaries for deputies to increase their presence on the county roadways. The mission is to save lives and reduce injuries on Marion County roads.
“These funds are critical to ensuring that we are doing everything possible to keep our community safe,” said Sheriff Bailey. With the grant money awarded the Marion County Sheriff’s Office will be able to work extra traffic enforcement on SR. 203, SR. 257, SR. 309, SR. 37, SR. 4, SR. 47, SR. 423, SR. 529, SR. 739, SR 746, SR. 95, and SR. 98.
The Marion County Sheriff’s Office is pleased to work with our partners at the state level to address this safety issue. The funds are passed through Ohio Traffic Safety Office 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, and excessive speed. In the past three out of four years, Ohio roadway fatalities have decreased to near record lows. So far this year there have been 918 fatalities, compared to 936 at this same time.
The Sheriff also congratulated Lieutenant Jason Dutton for his work as the grant manager and the successful completion of 2017 grant. The 2017 grant amount was $43,613.49 and the following are the statistical results of the program in Marion County. Target areas for 2017 were State Route 309, SR. 4, SR. 423 SR 95, SR 423, and SR 98.
Deputies worked 662 overtime hours 668 vehicles were stopped for various violations 101 total citations were issued for excessive speed, seat belt violations, driving under suspension, impaired driving, and other miscellaneous offenses. The “miscellaneous offenses” included such violations as open container, drug possession, and other traffic violations