UNCG Granted $102,000 in Traffic Safety Help

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Posted: 8-24-07

GREENSBORO, N.C. - UNCG’s is the only university police force in the state this year to be selected for a grant from the N.C. Governor’s Highway Safety Program (GHSP).

It’s not small change either; the $102,200 will be used to buy three fully equipped police vehicles. The GHSP plans to fund approximately 200 such grants. The announcement came Friday when Darrell Jernigan, director of the GHSP, visited campus.

“Any time we can partner with an agency like the UNCG Police Department, we know our job in traffic safety will be easier,” Jernigan said. “UNCG shows the community that it cares about safety every time it holds one of its checkpoints.”

Selection for the grant recognizes the effectiveness of UNCG police efforts in traffic safety, and its regular use of traffic checkpoints. One of those checkpoints took place last Friday night, Aug. 24, near campus.

Statistics show that since January 2005, the UNCG PD has investigated or issued citations for:
• 500 accidents
• 9,000 traffic citations, including 2,946 for speeding, 1,344 for safety belt violations, and 986 for driving while license revoked and no operator’s license.
• 596 DWI arrests
• 376 underage consumption/possession offenses
• 233 open container offenses (motor vehicle)
• 333 arrest warrants served

Police Chief Rollin Donelson noted that UNCG has a student body of more than 16,000 students, and the campus is bounded on two sides by major thoroughfares – Aycock and Market streets – and has traffic running through the middle of campus on Spring Garden Street.

“We take traffic very seriously at UNCG,” Donelson said. “This grant will give us some much-needed equipment to work the traffic around the campus.”

The funds also will purchase in-car computers and digital video cameras, dual radar units, and checkpoint equipment to enforce traffic violations and conduct checkpoint operations to further the goals of the Governor’s Highway Safety Program. The mission of the GHSP is to promote highway safety awareness and reduce the number of traffic crashes in North Carolina through the planning and execution of safety programs..