July 19, 2021 3:50 a.m.

Through September, the Roseburg Police Department will have some extra patrols out working traffic enforcement, with a specific focus on safety belt use, distracted driving and speeding.

Sergeant Daniel Allen said these focused patrols are made available due to grants received from Oregon Impact and the Oregon Department of Transportation.

Allen said in 2017 alone, seat belts saved an estimated 14,955 lives and could have saved an additional 2,549 people if they had been wearing seat belts.

An RPD release said that distracted driving is one of the fastest growing safety issues on the roads today. It said that distracted drivers aren’t just a threat to themselves, they are a danger to everyone else on the road. RPD said the national distracted driving effort focuses on ways to change the behavior through legislation, enforcement, public awareness, and education.