So far this year, 14 area people have died
By JONATHAN ATHENS, The (Central Ohio) Advocate
HEATH, Ohio -- Area police chiefs are working together on a new plan to work closer together and crack down on bad drivers and reduce the number of traffic accident deaths in central Ohio.
“The point is to get everyone singing on the same sheet of music,” said Ohio Highway Patrol Lt. Gary Allen, commander of the Granville patrol post.
Although the plan doesn’t have a name yet, Allen gave his presentation at the monthly law enforcement administrators meeting held at the Heath police headquarters.
The initiative, Allen said, is specifically aimed at stronger enforcement of moving violations; identifying high-risk roads and intersections; increasing driver safety education efforts; and finding ways for area police departments to share accident data more readily.
While the number of fatalities from crashes in the county has steadily dropped each year since 2001, the top two causes of such accidents are still drivers exceeding the speed limit and failing to yield, Allen said.
Eighteen people were killed in crashes in 2002, and so far in 2003, 13 crashes have claimed 14 lives, he said.
Nationwide, the number of those killed in vehicle accidents increased from 42,196 in 2001 to 42,815 in 2002, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Public education is helping reduce the number of fatal crashes, but another critical element of the plan is identifying high-risk intersections and roads and coming up with ways to make them safer, Allen said.
“We can all work together and try to figure out what are problems are,” he said.
Concerning accident data, reports for rural accidents are collected and tabulated separately from those in urban areas, Allen said. Part of the initiative is to consolidate that information.
Preventing fatal crashes is also part of the plan through enforcement of speed and seat belt laws, he said.
“I know for a fact more people are wearing their safety belts than before,” Allen said. “We’re at 70 percent compliance.”
Fifty-nine percent of those killed in crashes nationwide, just more than 19,000, were not wearing their seat belts, according to the administration.
Vehicle fatalities
The number of those killed in crashes on Licking County rural roads spiked from 15 in 2000 to 24 in 2001 and dropped to 18 in 2002.
Fatal crashes in Ohio inched upward from 1,378 killed in 2001 to 1,418 in 2002.
Alcohol-related fatalities comprise 41 percent of total highway deaths.
[Sources: Ohio Highway Patrol, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration]