June 26, 2020 10:35 a.m.

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

An RPD release said in 2017 alone, seat belts saved an estimated nearly 15,000 lives and could have saved an additional 2,500 people if they had been wearing seat belts.

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

Sergeant Jeff Eichenbusch said these focused patrols are made available due to grants received from Oregon Impact and the Oregon Department of Transportation. The extra patrols will continue through August.