The Snellville Police Department has been awarded a Highway Safety High Visibility Enforcement Grant totaling $7,366 from the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety in Atlanta.

The grant, which is funded through Sept. 2019, is designed to help the SPD implement a traffic-calming program.

“We are grateful to receive this grant from the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety,” Chief Roy Whitehead said. “The equipment we are purchasing through the grant will advance our mission to reduce injury and fatality crashes in our community.”

Snellville has experienced a 51 percent increase in total traffic accidents and a 68 percent increase in injury accidents over the last five years.

The police department will be purchasing two portable traffic calming speed signs from Radarsign, LLC in Marietta. The signs mount directly to the pole under an existing speed limit sign and utilizes a built-in radar to display an approaching vehicle’s speed. The signs are also capable of recording traffic data which will help the department determine the validity of speed-related traffic complaints and identify peak times when these types of violations are occurring in a specific area.

Uniform officers may be used to conduct targeted speed enforcement in areas where the collected traffic data shows that there is a significant speed-related problem.

Information on the SPD’s High Visibility Enforcement Grant: Lt. David Matson at 770-985-3567 or dmatson@snellville.org or www.gahighwaysafety.org.