Local counties to receive grants for traffic safety efforts

Local communities will be getting their share of $6.5 million in grants to step up traffic enforcement against reckless drivers.

The Indiana Criminal Justice Institute announced the grants recently saying that the funds would go to fund overtime patrols at more than 200 police departments throughout the state. Indiana is on pace to break 900 traffic fatalities this year, one of the highest years in the past decade. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is providing the funding for the grants administered by the state agency.

The grants will go to crack down on those driving without seatbelts, speeding and driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

In local counties, Bartholomew County is getting $20,000, Brown $20,900, Decatur $5,000, Jackson $62,000, Jennings $4,000, Johnson $82,500 and Shelby County $38,500.