NPPD Hosting a K9 in the Park Forum

The North Providence Police Department is proud to be hosting a K-9 In The Park Forum presented by Officer Jeffrey Galligan and K-9 Dusko. The forum will introduce the services provided to the community as well as give members of the community the opportunity to engage Officer Galligan with questions. The event is scheduled for May 22th at 1:00 pm at Governor Notte Park.

If you are interested in attending please email Officer Galligan at (jeffrey.galligan@northprovidenceri.gov) to RSVP.

NPPD Supporting AJ’s Army

Colonel Arthur Martins and members of the North Providence Police Department are sending thoughts and prayers to AJ for a speedy recovery. Stay strong, continue to work hard and you will accomplish your goal.

MOTORISTS URGED TO DRIVE SAFELY IN WORK ZONES

National Work Zone Awareness Week is April 26-30, 2021

With the start of a new construction season, the Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) is reminding motorists to reduce their speeds and drive safely in work zones to keep the thousands of men and women safe while working to repair our roads and bridges.

RIDOT’s annual effort to raise driver awareness of work zones coincides with National Work Zone Awareness Week, April 26-30. It also coincides with a national rise in work zone-related fatalities, up 11 percent with more than 840 people killed. Fortunately, RIDOT has not had any fatalities among its staff, or contractors, in many years.

“While we are grateful for the safety of our workers, our excitement about a new construction season is tempered with the sobering number of traffic fatalities we continue to see. This year brings added anxiety given a spike in traffic deaths last year and an above-average number of fatalities so far in 2021,” RIDOT Director Peter Alviti, Jr. said. “I implore drivers to do their part, to remain vigilantly watchful for construction zones and when you do come upon one, slow down and drive cautiously. Lives are at stake.”

Nationally, a work zone crash occurs every 5.4 minutes and each week there are 12 work zone crashes involving at least one death. A large majority of those killed, about 85 percent, are not the workers on the road, but the driver or passengers of the vehicle involved in the crash. In Rhode Island there were more than 900 work zone-related crashes last year.

In 2008, Rhode Island passed the “move over” law, which requires drivers to move over a lane when approaching a first responder stopped on the road. In 2014, the law was expanded to include construction and highway maintenance workers. Even if drivers can’t change lanes when approaching workers or first responders, the law requires them to slow down and leave as much space as possible between their vehicle and the stopped vehicles.

Safety is RIDOT’s highest priority, and all work zones are established with careful attention to safety and in coordination with national standards and best practices. RIDOT routinely inspects all work zones on state roads, not only involving the Department’s Highway and Bridge Maintenance Division, but those set up by contractors, bridge inspectors and utility companies. This interaction includes making sure work zones are set up correctly with repeat visits to make sure they remain in compliance.

RIDOT plans the timing and duration of work zones to reduce as much as possible the impact to traffic flow and travel time. Additionally, all planned work requiring lane or road closures is posted on RIDOT’s website at www.ridot.net/traveladvisories and real-time traffic incident information is available on RIDOT’s Twitter feed at www.twitter.com/RIDOTNews.

NPPD & the Gateway Mobile Crisis Team hosting a Mental Health Community Forum

NPPD hosting an open forum presented by Law Enforcement Domestic Violence Advocate, Nicole Vidal

NPPD Supporting Autism Awareness Month

April is “Autism Awareness Month” in the United States. It is a way to empower autistic individuals and their families. The autism community is calling on all to show acceptance for those afflicted with autism within the community.

Fostering acceptance will ignite change through improved support and opportunities in education, employment, accessible housing, affordable health care and comprehensive long-term services.

“While we will always work to spread awareness, words matter as we strive for autistic individuals to live fully in all areas of life,” says Christopher Banks, President and CEO of the Autism Society of America. “As many individuals and families affected by autism know, acceptance is often one of the biggest barriers to finding and developing a strong support system.”

Autism community advocates across the country have a long-standing history of using the term “acceptance” as a means of more fully integrating those 1 in every 54 Americans living with autism into our social fabric.

This month let’s encourage individuals with autism and their families to live full, quality lives through connection and acceptance.

Respectfully,

Colonel Arthur J. Martins

Chief of Police

Pictured from Left to Right, Colonel Arthur Martins, Deputy Chief Alfredo Ruggiero, and Andrew Jacques

Lexus & the National Safety Council on National Distracted Driving Awareness Month

https://youtu.be/Eikozy0tS2w

Animal Welfare Grant for North Providence & Johnston

Rhode Island Police Chiefs’ Association Shares Safety Tips During Distracted Driving Awareness Month

April is Distracted Driving Awareness Month. AAA recently produced a PSA as a reminder that distracted driving continues as a significant problem. Please feel free to share this PSA on your social media channels and/or website AAA’s new television public service announcement. It’s a good time to remind driver of the hand-held phone ban and texting laws as traffic begins to pick up with increased vaccinations, decreased pandemic restrictions, and warm weather coming.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), in 2019 distracted driving crashes killed 3,142 people in the U.S., an average of 9 deaths per day. That number was up 10 percent from the year before (2,839 deaths in 2018). In southern New England (RI/MA/CT), 35 people died in 2019 as a result of distracted driving.

Distracted driving remains a growing traffic safety problem according to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety’s 2019 Traffic Safety Culture Index. The survey found most drivers (96 percent) believe typing or reading on a hand-held cellphone while driving to be very or extremely dangerous, but 39 percent admit to reading and 29 percent admit to typing on a smartphone at least once while behind the wheel within the last month.

Even though using a hand-held device is illegal while driving and while stopped at a red light or stop sign in many states, the survey suggests some drivers do so anyway and aren’t aware of the “hangover effect,” which comes from interacting with technology while on the road. In a study by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, researchers found drivers can experience a “hangover effect” where the mind stays distracted for up to 27 seconds after using smartphones or voice-to-text vehicle infotainment systems to send text messages, make phone calls or update social media.

Please join AAA in encouraging all motorists to eliminate distracted driving by following these tips:

Put it away. Place your mobile device out of sight to prevent temptation.
Know where you’re going. If using a navigation system, program the destination before driving.
Pull over. If you must call or text while on the road, pull off the road safely and stop first.
Ask passengers for help. If riding with someone, seek their help to navigate, make a call or send a message.
Be a good passenger. Speak out if the driver of your vehicle is distracted.
Don’t be a distraction. Avoid calling or texting others when you know they are driving.
Activate Do Not Disturb. Setting up this feature on iPhone or Android device will prevent calls from coming in while you’re driving.
Everyone should prevent being intexticated. Just as drivers need to pay attention, so do pedestrians and bicyclists. Never call, text or play games while walking or cycling.

2021 U Drive U Text You Pay Fact Sheet