Of the $12.5 million the Ohio Department of Public Safety issued earlier this month for traffic-safety improvements in federal fiscal year 2012, not a penny will be spent in Athens County.
Athens County is one of 25 Ohio counties that will not receive any part of the grant. However, the 25 counties not receiving grants make up only 8.9 percent of Ohio’s population.
Counties receiving the bulk of the grant funding include Franklin, Cuyahoga and Butler counties, according to a report released by the department’s Traffic Safety Office.
“I think that when the grant money is dispersed, Athens County and (Southeast Ohio) have always been behind in receiving grants,” Athens County Sheriff Pat Kelly said. “I can understand why they dispersed it that way, but Athens is the highest per capita poverty county in Ohio.”
Kristen Castle, public information officer for the safety department, said grants are awarded on a basis of “problem identification.” According to a department crash-report analysis, Athens rate of crash fatalities has reduced gradually during the past three years.
Since 2008, the number of annual fatal crashes in Athens County has dropped from 11 to just 4 in 2010.
None of the traffic grant money will go to the Ohio State Highway Patrol but rather to local law enforcement and sheriff’s offices, Castle said.
The majority of these grants will be spent on overtime for police, the countywide Operating A Vehicle While Intoxicated Task Force Program, other general grants, and the Safe Communities Program, which aims to “prevent needless deaths and disabling injuries,” according to its official site.
Despite the low numbers, Kelly said there is always a need for improvement when dealing with traffic safety.
“We will continue applying for grants, and, hopefully, in the future, Athens County will receive some grant money,” Kelly said.
ld311710@ohiou.edu
*This article has been edited from its original version. The Ohio State Highway Patrol does receive federal funding.
