The Virginian-Pilot
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The number of people who died on the state's roads during the Thanksgiving holiday decreased sharply this year while drunken driving arrests increased.
Nine people died in 922 crashes from early Wednesday through midnight Sunday, down from 16 deaths in 2009, according to Virginia State Police.
One of the fatal crashes happened Saturday in Chesapeake. Thomas G. Spradlin Jr., of Virginia Beach, died when his truck crashed into a utility pole on Ballahack Road. Spradlin, 52, was not wearing a seat belt.
Two people died in Hampton crashes while the others died in the counties of Albemarle, Hanover, Montgomery, Orange, Rappahannock and Sussex. Five others who died weren't wearing seat belts, and at least one of the weekend's fatal crashes involved alcohol. Troopers charged 175 with driving under the influence of alcohol, up from 132 in 2009.
Col. W. Steven Flaherty, Virginia State Police superintendent, said drivers were warned ahead of the weekend that the agency would have 75 percent of its uniformed personnel looking for impaired drivers.
"The fact that 175 people were still willing to risk killing themselves and others on Virginia's highways is more than disturbing - it's completely unacceptable," Flaherty said. "Virginians must take proactive and responsible action this holiday season to not let themselves, their family, their co-workers or their friends drink and drive."
Troopers wrote 10,116 speeding tickets and cited 2,780 with reckless driving. More than 830 got tickets for failing to buckle their seat belts and 253 were cited for failing to properly restrain children.
Cindy Clayton, (757) 446-2377, cindy.clayton@pilotonline.com
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The cynic in me says….
Fundraiser! And, quite successful I might add.
It doesn't matter what the
It doesn't matter what the police do or say, how many people get injured or killed in car accidents, or what the statistics say about drinking and driving, there are idiots who are still going to drink and drive. The same can be said of not wearing seat belts.
One DUI arrest on Friday
One DUI arrest on Friday night was a car that struck Norfolk Ladder 10 while they were returning from an incident. They had just entered the intersection at Hoggard & Military when a drunk driver blew the light on southbound Military and hit them at the driver's door. No skidmarks. Luckily only one minor injury. It was fortunate that he hit this large vehicle instead of another passenger car, he could have killed an innocent person(s).
Lowballing
In regards to comment "The fact that 175 people were still willing to risk killing themselves" - I think he is way underestimating the number of drivers who put not only themselves at risk but countless others. If 175 were arrested -- than at least 17,500 were driving drunk as I am sure they only caught at bare minimum every 1 out of 100 drunk drivers during this time. As long as alcohol exists - there will always be drunk drivers-- regardless of any law on the books.
70mph. Used to be the Limit
What this really proves is that the state’s heavy handed over-enforcement (defined as devoting greater than half of the available force solely to the purpose of enforcing these two statues) of § 46.2-862 and § 46.2-870, enforcing what the rest of the developed world would consider a very slow speed limit simply isn’t working. It’s that simple. People (including police) drive at speeds that conditions allow. In some areas, all you need to do now is 10 over and it’s the same penalty as a DUI! That’s simply absurd. The limits were 70mph. prior to 1974, the roads were designed for 70mph., and our cars are safer than they’ve ever been at those speeds. We need to get back to “reasonable” speed limits and stop calling everyone un
...Continued
unsafe for driving at what used to be the safe speed limit.
Cell Phones
They don't mention how many citations were related to talking on the cell phone while driving. They don't gather this data.
Cell Phones
They don't mention how many citations were related to talking on the cell phone while driving. They don't gather this data.
Statistics across the U.S. (alcoholalert.com)
Here's something to chew on:
Year Total fatalities Alcohol related fatalities Percent(ARF)
1982 43,945 26,173 60
1985 43,825 23,167 53
1990 44,599 22,587 51
1995 41,817 17,732 42
2000 41,945 17,380 41
2005 43,443 16,885 39
2008 37,261 13,846 37
All 3 stats have pretty much gone down in the past 3 decades. Does this mean more fatalities are caused by sober drivers now? The actual number of non-alcohol related fatalities/percentage have gone up!
keep all the causes in mind
While I certainly don't want to diminish the seriousness of driving under the influence of alcohol and other intoxicants, don't forget the role of other factors in these casualties. It's common for people who die in DUI accidents to also not be wearing seat belts. Remember the accident that took the lives of British Prince Charles' ex-wife Diana and her fiance? The only survivor was her ineffective bodyguard (who allowed her to ride with a DUI behind the wheel) who was the only one in the car wearing a seat belt.
Keep in mind that a failure to wear a seat belt is usually only a physical danger to the person not wearing the seat belt. Government should not be in the business of protecting an individual from himself.