The California Highway Patrol (CHP) is amping up patrols on the Grapevine in the new year in hopes of putting a stop to speeding drivers.
Thank to a $75,000 grant, the Fort Tejon – Grapevine division of the CHP will be adding more officers on patrol on I-5 through the Grapevine to look for speeding violations committed by both commercial vehicle drivers and passenger vehicles drivers.
The grant will allow CHP to add 680 extra officer hours towards patrolling the Grapevine.
The new campaign is called “Put the Brakes on Speed” and it is a year-long education and enforcement campaign intended to combat the rising number of fatal crashes on Grapevine and in the Fort Tejon area.
In 2016, CHP says that they responded to ten fatal crashes in the Fort Tejon area. By 2018, CHP says that the number of fatal crashes increased to twelve.
CHP says that they hope that writing more speeding tickets will help to save lives.
You can see a ride-along with a CHP officer as he hunts for speeders in the video below.
Have you noticed an increase in CHP officers on the Grapevine? If so, that's because there is. CHP – Fort Tejon – Grapevine got a $75,000 grant, which mostly goes toward adding more officers for the next year. These officers are specifically targeting people speeding, but they are also keeping an eye out for other reckless driving. Today, I rode with an officer on the Grapevine and we pulled people over for speeding. He tells me that at the end of the day, the more people who know about this effort, the more people will slow down, hopefully preventing fatal crashes. He says if giving out a ticket saves a life, it's worth it.
Posted by Leah Pezzetti 23ABC on Wednesday, December 12, 2018