Two grants strengthen traffic safety programs on campus
The Virginia Tech Police Department recently received two grants that will provide additional resources for traffic safety enforcement programs.
The department joined other local law enforcement agencies in the Blue Ridge Regional DUI Task Force. A $3,200 grant received on behalf of the task force by the Roanoke County Police Department will provide supplemental funding to allow departments to increase enforcement programs on dates that have historically shown an increase in impaired driving.
The grant, from the Department of Motor Vehicles, “will play an active role in extending public safety initiatives to campus and the surrounding community,” said Virginia Tech Police Chief Wendell Flinchum. “Specialized activities, such as the use of this grant, help to impact our accreditation and high standing.”
This is the department’s first opportunity to participate in the grant program and will allow additional patrols to be active through summer 2012.
A second grant of $9,700 from the U.S. Department of Transportation National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will support Virginia Tech Police’s efforts to educate the community on the use of seatbelts, crosswalk safety, and speeding, as well as participate in the Over the Limit, Under Arrest Checkpoint Strike Force Campaign.
Dedicated to its motto, Ut Prosim (That I May Serve), Virginia Tech takes a hands-on, engaging approach to education, preparing scholars to be leaders in their fields and communities. As the commonwealth’s most comprehensive university and its leading research institution, Virginia Tech offers 240 undergraduate and graduate degree programs to more than 31,000 students and manages a research portfolio of $513 million. The university fulfills its land-grant mission of transforming knowledge to practice through technological leadership and by fueling economic growth and job creation locally, regionally, and across Virginia.
