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The Indiana Criminal Justice Institute announced last week that it has awarded $6.5 million to more than 200 police departments across the state to address reckless driving.
The Indiana State Police and Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department received the largest grants, with $1 million and $1.5 million, respectively. Urban areas like Marion County have seen higher rates of traffic fatalities, according to the ICJI.
The grants will help police create more checkpoints and patrols to address drunk driving, speeding and promote seat belt usage.
Traffic fatalities have been on the rise nationwide and in Indiana. Nearly 700 people have been killed in the state this year so far. If the rate continues, Indiana could hit 900 fatalities by the end of the year, which would be one of the highest amounts in the past decade.
“This should be a wake-up call for everyone in Indiana,” said Devon McDonald, executive director of the ICJI, in a news release. “Lives are being lost at an alarming rate because people are choosing to speed and ignore the rules of the road. The reckless driving has to stop. Enough is enough.”
Contact WFYI criminal justice reporter Katrina Pross at kpross@wfyi.org. Follow on Twitter: @katrina_pross.
Pross is a Corps Member of Report for America, an initiative of The GroundTruth Project.
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