ADOT highlights number of statewide traffic deaths with website counter
Jun 27, 2018, 5:25 PM | Updated: Jun 28, 2018, 9:35 am
(Bob Rendell/NBC Bay Area/KNTV via AP)
(Bob Rendell/NBC Bay Area/KNTV via AP)
PHOENIX — The Arizona Department of Transportation is aiming to bring awareness to the number of statewide traffic fatalities by displaying them on the front page of its website.
Doug Pacey, a spokesman with the department, told KTAR News 92.3 FM that the decision to post death toll numbers on its site was made in order to remind drivers of the consequences that bad driving habits can have.
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“We put it up weekly and we put it on social media, so people will see it over the course of a year, they’ll see it go up,” Pacey said.
The counter was first put on the site in April. Pacey said at the time there were 292 traffic fatalities since Jan. 1. As of Thursday morning, the number was 487.
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A majority — 90 percent — of those crashes are caused by poor driver behavior, the department said, including speeding, impairment, distracted and aggressive driving.
“Sometimes they can pay the ultimate price, if its a traffic fatality, its a death,” Pacey said. “And most of these deaths are preventable.”
A recent study found that there were 2,302 crashes that resulted in 2,520 deaths in Arizona between 2013 and 2015. Phoenix was also found to be the deadliest city in the state, with 1,222 fatalities during that time period.
Pacey said the department will update the traffic death toll numbers each Monday.
KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Mark Carlson contributed to this report.
