While people are feeling the pain at the pump, there’s at least one reason to celebrate $4 a gallon of gas – traffic deaths in DeKalb are down substantially.
DeKalb County Police last week reported traffic deaths have dropped more than 33 percent in the first seven months of 2008 compared to the same period in 2007.
The county had 45 deaths on its roads and interstates at this time last year but just 30 so far this year.
It’s a significantly greater drop than the state and national averages, which according to a National Safety Council report showed a 9 percent drop in the U.S. and about a 10 percent drop statewide.
Although there are many factors in the declining numbers of traffic deaths, including stepped up law enforcement patrols, safer cars and more passengers wearing seatbelts, it’s the biggest drop since the Arab oil embargo of the 1970s.
Georgia Department of Transportation spokeswoman Crystal Paulk-Buchanan cautioned that statewide statistics are still preliminary and won’t be certified until early next year.
“But based on what we’ve seen, traffic is flowing a little easier, and traffic fatalities are down,” said Paulk-Buchanan, who pointed out the drop coincided with schools closing for the summer.
“And the biggest reason is probably because people are simply driving less due to the cost of gas, but it will be interesting to see if the numbers hold when school is back.”
Bob Dallas of Dunwoody, director of the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety, said the decrease in deaths reflects not only that people are driving less, but they’re driving slower, too.
“We know that when drivers exceed the speed limit, fatal car crashes go up significantly,” said Dallas, who indicated an average of 1,700 people die each year on Georgia’s roads. “The reality is that speeders are part of the problem – those who obey the limits are part of the solution.”
Dallas, also the secretary of the Governor’s Highway Safety Association, said if drivers would simply follow the speed limit laws, everyone would be safer and traffic would flow more freely in the metro area.
“The irony is that Atlanta is the poster child for congestion woes,” Dallas said. “If every one drove the speed limit, we’d reduce congestion in half because that much of the problems we see on our highways are caused by severe crashes – which for the most part are due to speeders.”
One group taking the speed limit very seriously is known as “hyper-milers,” who do everything they can to squeeze what they can out of a gallon of gas, said Paulk-Buchanan.
Not only do they inflate their tires properly, change their air filters and get regular tune-ups, but they drive 55 mph on the highways.
“I’ve even seen them with bumper stickers that say, ‘I’m a hyper-miler go around me,’” said Paulk-Buchanan. “A car traveling 55 mph is going to have less impact in a collision than one going 75 mph. It’s simply physics.”
For Dallas, a 20-year national expert in traffic safety, DeKalb County Police and Chief Terrell Bolton also get high marks for reducing traffic death numbers.
“I think the chief understands and recognizes traffic safety is a key component in overall public safety,” said Dallas. “They’ve been improving. I think Bolton has embraced fighting traffic problems similar to the “broken window” theory to fighting crime – if you clean up the neighborhood, you reduce crime,” he said.
“If you enforce routine traffic laws, you reduce fatalities,” said Dallas. “If you take care of the small stuff, you get a better overall result.”
