Following a 17 percent rise in roadway deaths in Maryland in 2015, the federal government has awarded more than $12.5 million in grant money to police departments and road safety advocates in the state to encourage better driving habits and reduce traffic fatalities and serious injuries in the state.

From The Baltimore Sun,

The more than 80 separate grants will be used to prevent impaired, aggressive and distracted driving; encourage the use of seat belts; increase motorcyclist, pedestrian and bicyclist safety efforts; fund child passenger safety fitting stations; fund safety-related law enforcement operations; and improve Maryland’s traffic data systems.

…

The money can only be used for traffic safety activities, and the grants allocated based on crash data for each county and/or organization that applied for funding, according to the governor’s announcement. The organizations and local agencies are working together on the Maryland Strategic Highway Safety Plan, an effort to reduce roadway fatalities by half in the next decade.

Most of the awards went to police departments for enforcement measures.

Read the full article for more information.