Safety efforts pay off on state highways

By Staff
Alabama's efforts to make its highways safer led to a reduction in traffic fatalities during the last week.
During the "Take Back Our Highways" initiative, rural traffic fatalities dropped 69 percent and troopers issued 340 percent more traffic citations than during the same period in 2006.
"Take Back Our Highways" placed approximately 200 additional troopers – from all divisions and all ranks – in uniform and on patrol duty Aug. 13-17 to combat Alabama's increasing traffic fatalities. Murphy said state traffic deaths climbed more than 5 percent in 2006 – to their highest level since 1973 – at the same time that traffic deaths nationwide fell 2 percent.
During the week, troopers targeted primary violations and driving behavior that cause crashes and contribute to crash severity. These include speeding, failure to yield the right of way, following too closely, driver inattention and DUI.