Transportation 2035 - State of Rhode Island: Division of Planning

December 2012SAFETYRhode Island is moving progressively towards reducing trafficfatalities and serious injuries and making the roadways safer for allusers. Between 2006 and 2010, traffic fatalities dropped 17 percent inRhode Island. Since 2007, when Rhode Island changed the definition ofa serious injury to an incapacitating injury, serious (incapacitating)injuries have dropped by 40 percent. The figure on the right depicts thetrend of fatalities and serious injuries in Rhode Island from 2001 to2010. The following is a brief synopsis of the five emphasis areas(alcohol-impaired driving, intersection and run-off-the-road, occupantprotection, speeding, and young drivers) in the 2012 Rhode IslandStrategic Highway Safety Plan and a summary of the extent of theproblem since 2006.Rhode Island Fatalities and Serious Injuries, 2001 – 2010Alcohol-impaired driving crashes resulted in 94 fatalities from 2006 to2010, which represents nearly 26 percent of all traffic fatalities in RhodeIsland.Between 2008 and 2010, 142 fatalities and 874 serious injuries occurred at intersection involved crashes. The numbers account for 67 percent of the totalroadway fatalities and serious injuries in the State. During the same period, 128 fatalities and 510 serious injuries involved run-off-the-road crashes, whichrepresent 42 percent of the statewide numbers.In Rhode Island, there were 161 unbelted fatalities and 717 unbelted serious injuries between 2006 and 2010, which accounted for 44 percent of all trafficfatalities and 21 percent of serious injuries. There were 161 unbelted fatalities and 717 unbelted serious injuries between 2006 and 2010, which accounted for44 percent of all traffic fatalities and 21 percent of serious injuries throughout the State.Between 2006 and 2010, 141 speeding-related fatalities occurred on Rhode Island’s roadways, accounting for 38 percent of overall traffic fatalities in the State.Data is not available on speed-related serious injury crashes due, in part, to a lack of personnel resources which impedes law enforcement from conductingcrash reconstructions for speed-related serious injury crashes as they do for fatal crashes.Between 2006 and 2010, crashes involving young drivers resulted in 82 fatalities and 883 serious injuries. These events represent 26 percent of the totalfatalities and serious injuries in Rhode Island.Transportation 2035 (2012 Update)State Guide Plan Element 611Rhode Island Statewide Planning ProgramPage 1-9