Drunk driving, biking and walking accidents on the rise

 

BY PRU SOWERS

KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER

 

Being number one is not always a good thing.

For example, Key West is No. 1 on a state ranking of small Florida cities for alcohol-related fatal and injury crashes. It’s No. 1 in bicycle accidents. And it’s No. 1 for pedestrian mishaps.

In addition, the number of car-bike-pedestrian accidents resulting in death or injury in Key West is on the rise. Between 2011 and 2013, the number of driving while impaired (DUI) crashes rose 8.7 percent, from 46 to 50, although DUI arrests during that same time period in Key West dropped by more than a third, from 198 to 131.

Meanwhile, the incidence of bike crashes rose 21 percent from 2011 to 2013, according to the state survey, from 67 to 81. And pedestrian accidents were up by 45 percent, from 24 to 35.

A common factor in all of the accidents, according to a grant application submitted to the state by the Key West Police Department, was alcohol.

“The large numbers of visitors who drive, walk and ride bicycles on unfamiliar roadways, mixed with the large number of establishments that serve alcoholic beverages and the major FDOT roadway improvement project serves to create a combination of traffic safety problems that require additional resources, both human and financial,” the grant, which named Captain J.R. Torres as the project manager, stated. “The Police Department works tirelessly to reduce the number of driver and pedestrian fatalities and injury crashes each year and the additional funding provided by this grant will assist us in meeting our goals.”

Key West was awarded the $80,000 grant last October but the check didn’t arrive until last month. The funds come from a federal program, “Not One More: Police Traffic Services Enforcement Campaign” that is overseen by the state.

“This will be the third consecutive Traffic Safety Grant awarded to the department. Acceptance of this grant in the amount of $80,000 is to increase traffic safety in Key West by using saturation enforcement patrols and a public education campaign,” Key West Police Chief Donie Lee said in a memo to city commissioners last month.

The delay in receiving the $80,000 grant will put the police department behind in its anticipated schedule of conducting a traffic safety presentation in both the middle school and high school, as well as conducting at least one DUI checkpoint. The grant will also pay for overtime salaries for personnel to conduct 12 roll-call training presentations to police officers, as well as other public outreach and educational activities.

The department had hoped to have these programs completed by Sept. 30 and projected a three percent reduction in the number of people killed or injured in alcohol-related crashes and the same percentage drop in the number of pedestrians and bicycle riders killed or injured in crashes.

The initial results of the department’s efforts will be calculated quarterly, with the first report due at the end of July.

 

 

 

 

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