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Published on Saturday, January 1, 2005
in the Hernando Today
Traffic fatalities increased this year by almost 70 percent and the numbers will only continue to rise as more people move into Hernando County, authorities say.
"Anytime you see a population increase, you see more crashes," according to Trooper Larry Coggins of the Florida Highway Patrol.
But Coggins said the traffic, along with the traffic crashes, are not just up in Hernando County. It's a trend found throughout the Tampa Bay area that continues to grow in population.
This year in Hernando County there were a total of 47 crashes that resulted in 48 fatalities as a result of roadway crashes. That is an increase from 34 fatalities tallied last year.
"It's not a level or trend we like to see," Coggins said.
In both 2003 and 2004, there were seven pedestrians struck and killed on Hernando County roads.
Some of the most dramatic incidents of loss of life occurred when four teenagers were killed this year in car crashes, all of them Hernando High School students.
As a result, Sheriff Richard Nugent plans to start a driving course for teenagers at area high schools.
Deputy Donna Black, information officer for the Hernando County Sheriff's Office, said an agreement has just been signed to use the Hernando County Airport as a training site.
"We anticipate in the first quarter of the new year we will be up and running," she said.
The next step will be for deputies with the sheriff's office to be instructed on becoming trainers for the program, called CAT or Collision Avoidance Training.
A study conducted at the beginning of the year by the Hernando County Engineering Department showed that the intersection of Spring Hill Drive and Mariner Boulevard is the worst intersection for automobile accidents.
Ranked second was the intersection of Cortez Boulevard and Mariner Boulevard.
But a review of fatal accidents over the past year shows that many of the fatal accidents occurred on rural county roads.
A majority was also single-car accidents.
Gregg Sutton, county engineer, said his department takes great care when fatalities are involved and visits the sites of every vehicle death.
The engineers check to see if signage is prevalent, if there needs to be any re-striping or if the condition of the road needs to be improved.
"We want to see if it is preventable or correctable," he said.
Many times the results are based on driver error and not on the roadways.
The Florida Highway Patrol along with the Florida Department of Transportation looks at trends in order to provide public safety campaigns, officials said.
The agencies use aggressive public safety campaigns to target motorists and make them more aware of what is happening around them.
The highway patrol's spokesman Coggins said it is hard at this point to look at what the FHP would target in the upcoming year, but aggressive driving is becoming a priority.
Two weeks ago, a Spring Hill man was arrested after he admitted to authorities he was drag racing another vehicle on U.S. 19. The man lost control of his car and struck a highway construction worker, who was killed in the accident.
"Aggressive driving will remain at the height of the campaigns," Coggins said.