Drivers across the nation are safer on today’s roadways than they have been since the 1950s, and those in Tennessee and Georgia might be even more so.
The U.S. Department of Transportation announced last week that overall traffic fatalities reported for 2009 reached their lowest level — 33,963 — since 1954, dropping by nearly 9 percent from 2008.
Officials in Tennessee and Georgia report similar decreases in traffic fatalities, with Tennessee’s fatalities decreasing by 6 percent and Georgia’s by 14 percent.
In North Georgia, there has been a concerted effort to make local routes safer for drivers, said Norm Cressman, safety program manager for the Georgia Department of Transportation.
“We’ve put a lot of emphasis on what we call off-system safety,” he said. “Because we had so many fatalities on our local routes, we thought if we’re really going to get our numbers down, we need to start addressing the local routes.”
Small bits of work such as adding more safety signs, yellow striping on the roadways, guardrail upgrades and reflectors have made a difference in keeping drivers safe, Mr. Cressman said.
Since 2005, the state’s highest fatality year since 1973, traffic deaths have decreased by about 28 percent, but Mr. Cressman said it’s difficult to pinpoint exactly what has led to the downward trend. He said the state’s motor fuel revenue and vehicle miles traveled are both down, which play a role, as do increased safety measures.
“It’s really hard for us to truly quantify the effectiveness of our countermeasures,” he said, mentioning that law enforcement and education efforts also have helped make the roadways safer.
Tennessee’s fatality rate also has dropped over the past three years.
“We have set a record in each of the last three years for our fatality rate,” said Kendell Poole, director of the Tennessee Governor’s Highway Safety Office in Nashville. “We’re all the way down to unprecedented levels in our fatality rates.”
Fatalities have decreased by about 25 percent during that time, he said.
Mr. Poole said statewide campaigns such as “Booze It and Lose It” and “Click It or Ticket” are important for getting out the message about decreasing traffic-related deaths.
Through grants, partnerships with law enforcement and working with Tennessee Department of Transportation engineers, traffic fatalities were under 1,000 for 2009, with a goal of fewer than 900 this year.
Roger Thompson, a criminal justice professor at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, said possible reasons for the decrease in traffic-related fatalities include more effective speed enforcement strategies, higher seat belt use and fewer people driving due to tough economic conditions.
Hamilton County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Allen Branum credited sobriety checkpoints and officer visibility as two vital reasons for the decreasing number of fatal accidents in the county.
“A lot of our fatalities have some contributing factors that involve alcohol, speed or impaired judgment,” Chief Branum said. “If we can get the word out, sometimes that keeps somebody from getting behind the wheel, and we’d rather stop them from getting under the wheel than write a ticket.”
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