Yuma County recieves road safety grant

(The Center Square) – Yuma County received $23,050 in taxpayer dollars in hopes to limit speed-related crashes.

The grant was awarded by the Governor's Office of Highway Safety and will be spent on new R.A.D.A.R devices, which are used to monitor the speed of vehicles, according to a news release.

"Yuma County has seen an increase in speed related violations and collisions where speed has been a contributing factor. These new R.A.D.A.R. units will improve the Deputies’ ability to conduct additional traffic enforcement in order to make the roadways safer for Yuma County," the sheriff's department wrote in the release.

"The Yuma County Sheriff’s Office looks forward to working with the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety to continue making Yuma County a safer place," the release added.

The highway safety office will regularly issue granted to state and local agencies, as well as nonprofits, according to its website. The funding is intended to go toward it's overall mission of supporting ways to increase public knowledge and resources related to "highway safety."

In May, the Arizona Department of Transportation was given its annual grant of $72,000 for their "crash records" department, according to a news release .

The funding for the entities comes as crashes appear to be more frequent in Arizona. According to ADOT , 1,294 people died in crashes on roads in the Grand Canyon State in 2022, which was an uptick from the year before.