State traffic fatalities decline significantly

INDIANAPOLIS -- Traffic deaths in Indiana are on pace to drop nearly 23 percent this year compared with 2001, further boosting the state's ranking as one of the nation's safest places to drive.\nSeveral factors are believed to be behind what could turn out to be the biggest one-year decline in Indiana traffic deaths since record keeping began around World War II -- more people using seat belt, tougher traffic law enforcement, stricter drunken driving laws and favorable driving weather last winter.\nIf the trend in the first 11 months of 2002 holds up through December, recorded traffic deaths could drop below 800 statewide for the first time, said Jerry McCory, director of the Governor's Council on Impaired and Dangerous Driving.\n"We are significantly below the national average, and this year we will be far below it," McCory said Tuesday.\nDespite the growth in the number of drivers over the decades, traffic deaths historically have declined in Indiana and nationwide.\nAs of Monday, the Indiana State Police recorded 646 deaths this year, compared with 836 for the same day in 2001, said Sgt. David Bursten, a state police spokesman. The year-end total for 2001 was 909.\nNo year-to-date information is available for the nation as a whole. Last year, deaths nationwide rose 0.4 percent, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.\nIndiana's traffic deaths have risen three of the past five years, ranging from 2 percent to 4 percent. The largest decrease in state history occurred in 2000, when traffic deaths dropped 13 percent.\nIn rankings of states' traffic death rates, Indiana ranked seventh-lowest in 2000, but tied with eight other states in that slot, federal data show. Indiana had 1.2 traffic deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled, compared with a national figure of 1.5. The six states ranking better than Indiana all are on the East Coast.\nPerhaps the single biggest factor behind Indiana's traffic death decline this year is a rise in seat-belt use, officials said.\nThe latest statewide survey showed seat-belt use at 72 percent in September, said McCory, who oversees state traffic safety programs.\nIndiana's figure for all of last year was 67 percent, with a 62 percent rate in 2000.\nEnforcement has increased this year through the state's "Click it or Ticket" program, with grants helping pay for officers to work overtime to search for people not buckling up.\nGreater attention to drunken driving and enforcement of other traffic safety laws also are reducing traffic deaths, McCory said.\n"There's more enforcement activity than ever," he said.\nOther factors are Indiana's July 2001 reduction of the legal limit for a driver's blood-alcohol level to 0.08 percent, and police departments' use of sobriety checkpoints.\n"People may be a little more cautious because of that," said Marie Greger-Smith, state chairwoman of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.\nHowever, the group last month gave Indiana only a C-plus grade for its efforts to curb drunken driving.\nNo information is yet available on how many of this year's Indiana traffic deaths were alcohol-related. Last year, 337 of 909 deaths were alcohol-related, or 37 percent.\nChance also plays a role in the annual traffic death numbers, with good fortune smiling on Indiana this year because the state's last winter was mild, with generally good driving conditions, Bursten said.