A casino corridor grant to Salisbury Township of more than $10,000 for traffic law enforcement in the township has had a positive impact on the rate of crashes on township roads and highways over the last several months, said Salisbury Police Department Traffic Safety Officer Bryan Losagio.

"We've seen a reduction in crashes of 50 percent on our main east side roadways since last October," Losagio said.

The grant from Lehigh County, using funds from the Bethlehem Sands casino, has provided overtime funding for more than 210 hours of police traffic details on roadway corridors that have seen a traffic increase due to the operation of the Bethlehem casino.

"Additionally, we received funding for a portable real-time radar traffic sign which reminds motorists of their speed along roadways and serves to slow down those who might tend to have a heavy foot on the accelerator," Losagio said.

Township police have been able to use recorded radar data for unmanned traffic surveys to help better understand where speeding trouble spots support traffic enforcement details.

"With the increase of motor vehicle traffic accessing our main east side roadways en route to the casino," Losagio said, "this grant allowed our department to not only show a police presence, which is a very effective deterrent against unsafe driving, but allowed us to enforce statutes related to unsafe driving behaviors, which is the best deterrence against unsafe driving.

"The portable radar speed sign that we were able to obtain has taken the guess work out of when and where the fastest and most unsafe motorists are. Our department is very appreciative of these funds, which allowed our officers to really crack down on very dangerous drivers," Losagio said. "As always, our department will continue to monitor and enforce traffic safety in our township, and we urge all motorists to buckle up and drive safely. Making our roadways safer for township residents, and those who pass through our community, is a top police priority."

The final report for the gaming grant, covering the period October 2012 to this month, shows Salisbury patrol officers working overtime traffic details made 263 traffic stops, issuing 212 citations for traffic infractions.

Speeding infractions accounted for 77 percent of the citations with 163 speeding tickets issued. Eighteen citations were issued for driving with expired inspection stickers, 11 for driving without a valid operator license, 12 for unregistered vehicles, and three each for disobeying traffic control devices and for equipment violations. One citation was issued for careless driving, four vehicles were impounded and one illegal immigrant with an active state arrest warrant was taken into custody.

Losagio said two aggressive driving enforcement grants from PennDOT will allow the next wave of traffic enforcement details to begin by the end of July, with special attention given to the Cedar Crest Boulevard and Fish Hatchery Road corridors around the Lehigh Valley Hospital, which have a history of speeding motorists.