Council to approve grant for aggressive driving enforcement

With a goal of reducing fatalities and serious injuries, Orlando city council members are expected to approve a grant Monday that will help Orlando officers crack down on speeding and aggressive driving.

The $75,000 grant from the Florida Department of Transportation will fund overtime salary and benefits for officers to conduct enforcement in areas with a high number of crashes from speeding or aggressive driving, according to project details included in the grant agreement.

It is the second project Orlando police have sought funds for in three months to help curb the city’s traffic woes. In August, city council approved a $55,000 grant for pedestrian safety traffic enforcement.

The agency is expected to keep tabs on the number of citations issued for seat belt and speeding violations issued during the project, as well as the number of arrests for impaired driving, the grant states.

Along with increased traffic enforcement, officers will conduct speed and aggressive driving educational activities.

By Sept. 2019, the goal is to reduce crashes, serious injuries and fatalities resulting from speeding or aggressive driving by five percent compared to the past three-year averages, and to increase contact with speeding or aggressive drivers by 10 percent compared to a 2017-2018 period, according to the agreement.

Between 2012 and 2016, Orlando ranked third in the state for speeding or aggressive driving based on the number of people seriously injured or killed, according to the FDOT.

The project hopes to be “a strategy of public education and aggressive enforcement in order to reduce the threat to residents and visitors posed by speed and aggressive driving patterns,” the agreement states.