Some local Independence Day holiday traffic safety events were canceled due to the state’s budget impasse, but state and local officials say the passage of a new budget should restore the processing of federal grants for such efforts.
Local law enforcement agencies had been notified that due to the budget stalemate, the Illinois Department of Transportation would shut down many operations after June 30, including the processing of federal funding used for initiatives such as roadside safety checks and saturation patrols seeking out impaired drivers and speeders.
Round Lake Park police canceled a roadside safety check that would have gone into the early morning hours of July 1 due to IDOT’s announcement, Police Chief George Filenko said. The Lake County Sheriff’s Office canceled a planned saturation patrol to combat impaired driving for the same reason, said sheriff’s office Sgt. Christopher Covelli.
“It looks like everything is slowly starting to kick in again,” Filenko said Friday. “It looks like good news.”
That assessment was confirmed by Kelsea Gurski, an IDOT spokeswoman, who said Friday that the agency’s grant processing procedures “should be back to normal now.”
Gurski said that with regard to the special holiday enforcement period running from June 15 through July 9, local law enforcement agencies will not be reimbursed for costs of extra patrols and manpower for the days of July 1 through July 6, but may apply for reimbursement for activities running from July 7 through July 9.
Covelli said Friday that the sheriff’s office has not received formal notification from IDOT that the grant processing has begun again, but he added the office plans to resume saturation patrols once the notification is received.
Sheriff’s patrol deputies were still concentrating on impaired drivers, seat belt violations and other safety concerns during following the IDOT cutoff, Covelli said, but the sheriff’s office had to back away from plans to use extra officers.
Despite the cutbacks, in the period prior to the cutoff, Lake County deputies issued 85 citations during the recent Independence Day traffic safety campaign, including 42 tickets for seat belt violations, which had been an emphasis of the effort.
“The best protection in an auto crash is wearing a seatbelt,” Sheriff Mark Curran said in a release on the results of the initiative. “Unfortunately, all too often we see those who didn’t buckle up seriously or critically injured when involved in a traffic crash.”
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There was also one DUI arrest during the campaign, Covelli said.
The sheriff’s office joined several other other law enforcement agencies and highway safety partners throughout the state in the Illinois Independence Day “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” traffic safety initiative.
The initiative, which was also part of a statewide “Click It or Ticket” campaign, is funded by federal traffic safety funds and distributed through IDOT.