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Traffic deaths surge in state's metro areas

Fatalities increase in Hillsborough and Pasco, but decline in Pinellas, Hernando and Citrus.

By SAUNDRA AMRHEIN
Published September 16, 2005

TAMPA - Growth, drunken drivers, motorcycles and the flouting of seat belt laws could all be contributing to the rise in traffic deaths in Florida's major metropolitan areas, traffic experts say.

Traffic deaths so far this year climbed more than 11 percent statewide compared to this time last year, from 2,158 to 2,401, according to numbers compiled this month by the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.

The numbers rose dramatically in the state's larger metropolitan areas - including a 15 percent spike in Hillsborough County, from 124 to 142, according to the state report.

Miami-Dade County climbed 16 percent and Broward County went up 35 percent.

In Tampa Bay, other counties saw a drop: Pinellas County's number of traffic deaths fell from 75 to 69; Hernando County's from 27 to 20; and Citrus County's from 18to 14.

Pasco County's numbers rose, from 51 to 57, the report showed.

Larry Coggins, spokesman for the Florida Highway Patrol, attributed the higher number of fatal accidents to counties with booming populations.

"Where you have more vehicles and crashes, you're going to have more fatalities," he said. "The one main thing we see in the counties where the population is increasing rapidly, naturally the crashes increase rapidly, too."

Two other factors: drunk drivers and seat belts.

Last year, 62 percent of all fatal crashes involved people not wearing seat belts, he said.

During the same year, one out of every three traffic fatalities involved alcohol.

"If people will buckle up and not drink and drive, they will likely get to where they are going safely," he said.

Also, motorcycle popularity is taking off because of cheaper gas prices for motorcycles than cars and a spike in the hobby, Coggins said.

"We're seeing more motorcycle deaths because we're seeing more motorcycles," he said. "What we see are a lot of inexperienced riders not properly trained to operate a motorcycle go out and buy large monster powerful motorcycles as their first bike."

Larry Hagen, a traffic expert at the Center for Urban Transportation Research at the University of South Florida, agrees that growth and motorcycles contribute to the rising numbers.

So do pedestrians, he added.

"You still have a lot of problems with pedestrians trying to cross big huge roads and people in cars not looking for them," Hagen said.

"Up north, it's more pedestrian friendly and there are better networks of (smaller) streets you can cross. It's a heck of a lot easier for a pedestrian to cross a two-lane road than an eight-lane road."

Both men agreed that Pinellas County has made strides trying to make its roads safer.

It has an aggressive community traffic safety team, and several years ago installed new signs along U.S. 19 to mark the blocks.

Pinellas also overhauled the medians to encourage cross-traffic turns at traffic lights or in left turn lanes.

"I am very pleased the fatalities have dropped," said Karen Seel, Pinellas County Commissioner and chairwoman of the Metropolitan Planning Organization. "That's been a concern of ours for years."

In the end, Coggins says, government officials can only do so much.

"We can educate and enforce better roads all day long, but it's still the responsibility of the driver to prevent these fatal crashes," he said.

[Last modified September 16, 2005, 01:44:53]