MONTVILLE TWP. — Township police are able to step-up patrols on the most accident-prone county roads and state highways, thanks to a recent grant of more than $34,000 from the Ohio Traffic Safety Office.

“These funds are critical to ensuring that we are doing everything possible to keep our community safe,” Chief Thomas Acklin said in a statement.

The OTSO reviewed the competitive grant, which came through from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. NHTSA’s mission is to “save lives, prevent injuries and reduce economic costs due to road traffic crashes, through education, research, safety standards and enforcement activity,” according to its Web site.

Roads like River Styx and state routes 3, 57, 18 and 162 saw the most accidents, said Sgt. Todd Grice. He held up the quarter-inch-thick grant proposal he wrote and said the OTSO awarded the grant to his department based on its traffic fatality rate.

Between 2006 and 2008, there were 683 accidents in Montville, including seven fatalities and 154 injuries, according to the Ohio Department of Public Safety.

Montville police aim to reduce these numbers by working overtime and increasing public awareness through education and events with the grant funds, the department said in a statement.

The federal grant began to reimburse police overtime salaries on Oct. 1 and will continue to aid “enforcement of safety issues” in these high-risk areas until Sept. 30, 2010, Grice said.

Contact Audrey McCrone at (330) 721-4063 or amccrone@ohio.net.