Statistics Reviewed—

Traffic Enforcement Seeks To Reduce Accidents

By Andrew Gorosko

Beyond the efforts of the police department’s two-officer traffic enforcement unit, the police chief expects that the overall traffic enforcement work of the department’s patrol division will lead to a better driving environment for the public.

The department’s traffic enforcement unit, which formally started work last July, is comprised of Officer Steve Ketchum, who rides a police motorcycle when weather permits, and Officer David Kullgren, who drives a specialized unmarked police car designed for traffic enforcement.

But more broadly, traffic enforcement is one of the roles of the police department’s patrol division, Police Chief Michael Kehoe said this week.

“It’s a departmentwide issue,” he said. The police department is authorized to have up to 47 sworn officers, more than half of whom are uniformed patrol officers who drive marked police cars within the various patrol sectors in town.

Some factors leading to motor vehicle accidents include the volume of traffic on local roads, and the unsafe driving behavior or even recklessness on the part of some drivers, Chief Kehoe said.

Chief Kehoe said he expects it will take several years for the police department’s heightened enforcement of traffic laws to have an effect on reducing traffic accidents.

Heightened traffic law enforcement is keyed to offenses such as speeding, violating red traffic signals, driving through stop signs, and violating pedestrians’ right to safely use crosswalks, he said.

Three prime components of traffic safety are road engineering, traffic enforcement, and educating the public about obeying traffic laws, Chief Kehoe said.

The police department’s drive to expand traffic law enforcement across town came following public calls for heightened enforcement to keep the roads safe and thus preserve the local quality of life.

Statistics

Bob Berkins, who is the records manager at the police department, recently compiled a range of statistics on motor vehicle accidents for the past three calendar years.

Those statistics cover only those accidents that town police investigated. The statistics do not include the accidents that were investigated by state police, either on Interstate 84 or on state-owned property located within town.

 According to those statistics, town police investigated 1,040 accidents in 2008; 1,052 accidents in 2007, and 1,077 accidents in 2006.

In the police’s recordkeeping system, the accidents occurring within a given calendar year are broken down into nine discrete categories that describe the dominant aspect of an individual accident.

The categories are: fatal accidents, accidents with injuries, accidents without injuries, accidents in which a motorist evaded responsibility, accidents occurring on “private property,” pedestrian accidents, accidents involving deer, accidents in which a police car was involved, and accidents involving a school bus.

Accidents listed as “private property” accidents include accidents that occurred on actual private property, such as a shopping center parking lots or church parking lots, as well as those accidents that happened in publicly-owned parking lots, such as the parking lots at town government buildings, including schools.

 In each of the last three calendar years, more than 80 percent of the motor vehicle accidents in the combined category of “accidents with injuries/accidents without injuries” did not involve injuries.

In 2008, there were 566 accidents without injuries and 130 accidents with injuries. In 2007, there were 615 accidents without injuries and 110 accidents with injuries. Also, in 2006 there were 610 accidents without injuries and 140 accidents with injuries.

There has not been a fatal motor vehicle accident investigated by town police since 2006.

Also, police recorded 47 accidents involving the evasion of responsibility by motorists in 2008, 57 such incidents in 2007, and 62 such cases in 2006.

“Private property accidents,” which include collisions in publicly-owned parking lots, are listed at 180 incidents in 2008; 161 accidents in 2007, and 152 cases in 2006.

The number accidents involving pedestrians was two in 2008, five in 2007, and five in 2006.

In 2008, there were 103 accidents involving deer. In 2007, that number was 95. In 2006, the number of such incidents was 101.

The statistics also list the number of accidents involving certain specialized vehicles.

In 2008, there were seven accidents involving police cars. In 2007, that number was six. In 2006, the number was four.

In 2008, there were five accidents involving school buses. In 2007, there were three school bus accidents. In 2006, there were two such accidents.