May issue.pdf - Wingspan

May 4, 2009lccc.wy.edu/wingspannews Wi n g s pa n 23County in ‘middle of the road’for driver safety rankingWYDOT statistics reveal the worst, best drivers statewideBy Caitlyn BeleyFeatures EditorIt seems everycorner turned thesedays has a fenderenderunder investiationor, even worse,gurney.If we counted onoth hands how manyimes we have beenut off, flipped offnd ticked off by a eraticdriver, we woulde part of the grimtatistics because ourands wouldn’t be onhe wheel—we’d mostikely crash…All jokes aside, theyoming Departmentf Transportation’sighway Safety Indexas ranked the 23ounties statewide inerms of their drivingafety statistics.Uinta County chartshe lowest in the safetyndex at 7.6, with 12 theverage safety index.he safest to drive ins Goshen County,oming in at 19.0 in a005–2007 study.Sgt. Duane Ellis,afety and training,yoming Highwayatrol, agrees much ofhe problem to “dailyusiness” distractionsn the road—cellhones, eating, pasengersetc. In fact,0 percent of crashesre caused by driverarelessness. The other0 percent consist ofrunken drivers, mostf whom consisted ofhe 16–24yearold ageroup.In Laramie County,4.5 percent of allatalities and seriousnjuries were causedy inattentiveness,ollowed by 26.5ercent by speed,nd 17.6 percent byoung drivers rangingrom 14–20-yearsold.Compare that toNatrona County, where6 percent accountedfor driving distractions:22.4 percent in speedand 19 percent causedby young drivers.Statewide, 36percent of the humanerror,fatal crashesresulted from overcorrecting;28 percentwere involved with fixobjects, and 24 percentwere vehicletovehiclefatalities. A quarterof these fatalities occurredin Fremont andSweetwater counties.Furthermore,Campbell, Fremont,Park and Sweetwatercounties accounted for48.9 percent of all alcoholrelated fatalities,with a large portionof those drivers being16–24 years of age. Sgt.Ellis said three-quartersof this age groupwho died in crasheswere alcohol-related.Ellis suggested thehigher alcohol fatalityrates in FremontCounty were due tothe Native Americanpopulation and theage-old problem ofalcohol abuse in theirculture.“Driving under theinfluence of alcohol(DUI), also referred toas DWI (driving whileintoxicated), OUI(operating under theinfluence, which mayinclude impairmentfrom other drugs (legalor illegal.))” arrestsaccount for 40 percentof all arrests statewide,which is a large chunkconsidering the other60 percent include domesticdisputes, childabuse, burglary andother actions of thatnature, combined.But where doesLaramie County rankin terms of safe drivers?Cheyenne andsurrounding areasactually rank fairlywell in terms of safetystandings, coming inwith a 13.2 in the totalranking safety index—compared to NatronaCounty with an 8.6.In 2007, 149 fatalitieswere recorded inWyoming; 18 percentof those were motorcyclists,and 1 percentinvolved pedestrians.This number hasdecreased significantlycompared to the 169fatal crashes in 2006.This can be creditedto efforts made byWYDOT to increaseawareness of seatbelt usage, drunkendriving and the graduateddriver licensingsystem, implementedin 2005.The truth of thematter is Wyomingdrivers must drivelonger distances, moreoften to arrive at theirdestination on a dailybasis. So WYDOT incollaboration with theWyoming HighwayPatrol is making effortsto produce saferdrivers.WYDOT’s grantspecialist and dataanalyst, StephanieLucero, is currentlyworking to upgradetraffic statistics on itsnew Web site, whichwill be live, and shouldhave things up andrunning by 2010.The site will offerthe same informationas dot.state.wy.us, butin a more comprehensivefashion.Lucero said theagency is still “cleansingthe data, but studieswill be on the Web,”once the demographicshave been analyzedand complied intheir entirety.Thousandsof people252015105The distraction categorieswill be brokeninto specific areas suchas cell phone usage,eating, radio tuning orpassenger distractions.WYDOT is constantlysearching fornew ways to makehighways safer,and one way is theWyoming Seat BeltCoalition (WSC) whosemission is to “increaseTd e at h b yr a n s po r tat i o n24,1008,6003,20022,4009,6002,20020,7001990 1995 2000 2005 2006seat belt usage inWyoming to preventfatalities and decreasethe number and severityof injuries in trafficcrashes.”Those efforts arepaying off too; in 2007,381 fatalities andserious injuries werereported by WYDOT,compared to in 2006,with numbers charting433. That still does notEach year, thousands of traffic accidents takeplace in the United States. However, while caraccidents have declined in the past 20 years,the number of truck and motorcycle accidentshas risen. Each year is ranked 1–5 based onthe total number of deaths.11,5002,90018,50013,0004,600compensate for thefact that in ’07, 61 percentof Wyoming roadfatalities were causedby motorists not wearingtheir seat belts.The WSC hasan important task,considering Wyomingis below the nationalaverage for wearingseat belts, with only72 percent of motoristswearing a safety17,80012,7002 5 4 1 34,800Passenger Car Truck MotorcycleSource: U.S. Bureau of Transportation StatisticsOscar Morillonrestraint, comparedto the average of 82percent nationwide.You cannot controlother drivers, but youcan control yourself.To avoid becomingpart of a statisticWYDOT says to wearyour seat belt, don’tdrink and drive, eliminatetravel distractionsand use defensivedriving skills.