March 16, 2008,
North Richland Hills, Texas
Police are working with Texas DOT Grant
The North Richland Hills Police Department has been
participating in a Texas Department of
Transportation DWI grant program since October
2007. This grant has been funding extra overtime
hours for DWI enforcement. Specifically, our police
officers have been targeting impaired drivers on
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. Although our
regularly assigned shift officers make arrests for
DWI as well, the additional enforcement provided by
the grant helps free them for other law enforcement
needs.
In addition to the extra
DWI enforcement, our officers are also targeting
offenses against the State’s safety belt law,
including driving without using the safety belt,
unbuckled front passengers, and persons allowing
children to ride without being properly restrained.
Safety belts have been proven to not only limit
injuries but they can also actually prevent a
collision. Sometimes, while taking emergency
evasive actions a driver not wearing a safety belt
can be forcefully jolted from behind the steering
wheel, thus causing a loss control and subsequent
collision. These types of crashes are sometimes
avoided had the driver only been wearing a safety
belt.
Since October, North
Richland Hills Police officers have worked an
additional 497 enforcement hours on the State’s
grant program yielding 1009 traffic stops. Of the
total traffic stops, 432 were related to DWI and
safety belt offenses.
Spring Break is quickly
approaching and the North Richland Hills Police
Department will be out in force looking for seat
belt violations and enforcing the States DWI laws,
in an effort to assure the safety of all the drivers
traveling in our community.
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