State Troopers saved lives in 2007
By Staff
Rep. Ronald Grantland, Guest Columnist
One of the most reported stories of 2007 was the extraordinary efforts of our state troopers. It seemed that each month the Alabama Department of Public Safety rolled out another effort to increase troopers’ presence on the roads and reduce accidents and fatalities. The story ended up having a positive ending, and showed us that with proper support and clear goals, we can make our roads safer.
Fatalities on Alabama’s roads last year were at a four year low, with 758 highway deaths reported from Jan.1 through Dec. 26, 2007. That is down 61 fatalities from the same time period the year before, according to Public Safety. The troopers’ extraordinary efforts had a substantial outcome, but there is more work to be done.
The troopers held two major campaigns to get people to slow down, and they issued more than 43,000 tickets during those periods. Known as the “Take Back Our Highways” program, every available trooper and cruiser were on the highways during these “blitzes.” They ended up pulling over a record amount of people, and people got the message.
The campaigns not only focused on speeding, but other illegal and dangerous driving practices like tailgating, improper lane changes, and the worst of them all: driving under the influence of alcohol.
It should not surprise anyone that more people speed on our highways than in any other state. Alabama has a national reputation as the “hammer state,” not because our state bird is the yellowhammer, but because it is well known we have fewer troopers for our miles of roadways than other states. Truckers and others can “put the hammer down” and drive as fast as they want without worry of running into a cruiser that will pull them over.
Faster speeds equal more fatalities. Less troopers on the roads equal more fatalities. More enforcement equals more lives saved. These are simple equations. And they have been proven by 2007 numbers.
With the Take back Our Highways campaign, and the other trooper efforts like increasing checkpoints and extra patrols during the holiday season, highway deaths were reduced by almost 10 percent.
The problem is that such extraordinary efforts cannot be sustained; the amount of overtime and long hours our troopers have to put in to carry out a four-day blitz is just too much for the force to maintain.
So why don’t we just increase the number of troopers so their presence on our roads will saves lives? The answer is also simple: we don’t have the money.
That is not to say we haven’t made progress. Over the past three years, we have increased trooper strength, and graduated some of the largest cadet classes in state history. We have been able to increase Public Safety’s budget, and get more cruisers on the road. Yet we are still behind other states in our numbers, and more people are killed on the roads because of it.
Alabama has the lowest taxes in the nation, so funding is always tight, even when it comes to a clear-cut idea like increasing the numbers of troopers. We maximize every tax dollar, but with less to start with, we can only do less than other states. It’s important to continue the progress we’ve made, but improvement will never be as fast as we could hope.
As we look back at the success of 2007, let us sing the praises of our troopers and the lives that were saved. And let us all resolve to drive as safely as we can, and do our part to make our highways safer.
