Traffic fatalities cut nearly in half across Wiregrass

Officials say record high gas prices through much of last year contributed to 2008 becoming one of the safest years to travel down the highway.
Traffic fatalities dropped by nearly half over the last two years across the Wiregrass. While the reduction wasn’t as extreme state-wide, initial numbers are in line with a national dip in those killed in crashes.
Sgt. Scott Brasher of the Dothan office of the Alabama Highway Patrol said the fatalities across the Wiregrass dropped from 63 to 39 from 2007 to 2008. Brasher said nearly half of those fatalities came from excess speed and driving under the influence.
Alabama Governor Bob Riley said last month in a statement that early numbers showed about a 17 percent decrease in fatal crashes across Alabama over the same period. Riley said 2008 became the safest year to travel in more than two decades with 633 people killed during traffic crashes investigated by state troopers. There were 766 people killed in 2007 on Alabama highways investigated by state troopers.
According to a statement from the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, early estimates showed fatalities across the country to have dropped by about 10 percent in 2008. Those estimates showed 31,110 people died on the nation’s roads from January to October 2008, compared to 34,502 in 2007, during that same 10-month time period.
Across the Wiregrass, Brasher said several factors contributed to the decrease in fatalities, including how the number of people on roadways also dropped.
“Gas prices kept a lot of people home,” Brasher said. “Traffic was down and enforcement was up.”
As gas prices hovered around $4 per gallon much of last year Barbara Harsha, executive director of the Governors Highway Safety Association, said the poor economy coupled with the higher gas prices likely contributed to a drop in fatality numbers.
“People are driving at slightly lower speeds to save gas,” Harsha said. “There’s a very strong correlation between higher speeds, crash risk and fatalities. Getting people to slow down is very important.”
Brasher cited aggressive traffic enforcement campaigns for the decrease, including Take Back Our Highways and the similar Click It or Ticket, which has stressed the importance of seat belt usage.
“Instead of being reactive we’re becoming more proactive in our enforcement,” Brasher said. “Without a doubt seat belts have contributed. I’ve seen a decrease in injuries along with the fatalities. It seems like we’ve established a new presence on the highways and since we’ve started them (programs).”
Harsha agreed with Brasher as she cited the enforcement of stronger highway safety laws across some of the country’s states as a factor for the decrease in fatalities.
According to the Web site for Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, all but one of the 50 states use seat belt laws, but only 26 of them, including Alabama, use the primary enforcement method.
“That’s the law where a law enforcement officer can stop you for not wearing a seat belt and for no other reason,” Harsha said. “States are aggressively enforcing those seat belt laws.”
But, according to the Web site, some states, including Florida and Georgia, use secondary enforcement, which only allows officers to give a seat belt ticket when they’ve stopped the motorist for another violation.
Brasher also cited technological improvements in enforcement as a factor in the drop in fatalities, including new DUI task forces and statistical information.
“We’re just using so much statistical information to find out where they’re happening, and what time of day,” Brasher said. “If we see a problem area we’re going to send guys out to it.”
Riley recently said in a statement that the development and the deployment of blood alcohol testing vehicles, or BAT mobiles, also helped curtail some of the fatalities across the state. One of the state’s nine BAT mobiles has been used in the Dothan area as part of a state trooper initiative called Task Force Zero.
Ellen Martin, a spokesperson with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said safer vehicles on the roadway could’ve also factored into the drop in fatality numbers.
“More vehicles have more electronic stability control making vehicles less likely to roll over,” Martin said.
Harsha agreed, the reduction in fatalities could’ve come from not only safer vehicles but safer designed vehicles.
“The newer cars have stronger bumpers and more air bags,” Harsha said. “Basically when you’re driving in a car, you’re driving in a steel cage.”