SAVANNAH, Ga. ()–The Savannah Police Department (SPD) has been awarded a $193,771.60 Highway Enforcement of Aggressive Traffic (H.E.A.T) grant for DUI enforcement.

SPD said over the past year serious injuries and fatal wrecks involving someone driving under the influence have decreased. They believe a reason for the lower number is due to the H.E.A.T unit and this grant.

“We are one of 26 teams throughout the entire state that has a grant ,so to bring it here to Savannah is huge,” Corporal Gergory Brocinski with the SPD H.E.A.T unit said.

Brocinski said the grant money will also go towards educational programs.

“We go to schools. We get kids in the right mindset when they’re starting to drive and to teach them the importance of not being impaired behind the wheel, not being distracted,” Brocinski said. “We’ll do alcohol workshops, we’ll give them the Vision Zero goggles, or we call them the drunk goggles.”

Uber and Lyft help alleviate the high number of DUI’s issued in the city of Savannah.

“Alcohol is one of the most readily obtainable things that’s out there,” Brocinski said. “The pressure for kids to want to drink and things of that nature and then just not having that experience behind the wheel. So, now you introduce alcohol into that or drugs — because drugs are becoming a big thing as well — they become impaired and they have no experience behind the wheel.”

SPD has received the H.E.AT grant in the past. It is part of a 5-year program and at the end of the 5th year, the department will have to apply again.