The San Mateo Police Department (SMPD) will use a $166,000 state grant to fund DUI checkpoints, distracted driving patrols and pedestrian safety operations across the city through September 2027.
The department announced the award from the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) on Tuesday, Oct. 13, in a press release. The grant is funded by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration through the state OTS program.
The money covers six categories of enforcement and outreach: DUI checkpoints and patrols targeting suspected impaired drivers; operations against distracted driving under California's hands-free cell phone law; enforcement aimed at drivers who endanger people walking or biking; crackdowns on speeding, failure to yield, red-light running and improper turns; community presentations on traffic safety; and joint operations with neighboring agencies.
Traffic Sgt. Nicholas Ryan called the grant "an important investment in the safety of our community and everyone who travels our roads."
The new award follows a larger $200,000 OTS grant the department announced Nov. 26, 2025 for a similar enforcement program that ran through September 2026. The current grant is $34,000 smaller. The press release did not explain the reduction.
Traffic and pedestrian safety is one of four goals in the department's 2026–2031 strategic plan. The plan lists 116 sworn and 48 authorized nonsworn positions.
The city has also invested in infrastructure changes downtown. Pedestrian scrambles give people a separate crossing phase while vehicles wait, allowing diagonal crossings as well as conventional ones. They are active where B Street meets First, Second and Third avenues, according to the Downtown San Mateo Association's newsletter.
Mayor Adam Loraine, in an Oct. 8 Patch candidate profile, called bicycle and pedestrian safety "a big part of public safety in San Mateo" and said the city had allocated $500,000 in quick-build infrastructure improvements at priority intersections.
The release does not list dates for grant-funded enforcement operations. Residents can contact SMPD Public Information Officer Andrew Peek at 650-522-7626 for more information.
