Since we are nearly three fourths of the way through 2013, I thought this would be a good time to let everyone know how things are going from a traffic safety standpoint. Through September 25, 2013, the La Porte Police Department has investigated 361 property damage crashes and 82 personal injury crashes. In 2012, we had investigated 406 property damage crashes, 111 personal injury crashes and one fatal crash during the same period. Year to date, 20 of these crashes have been alcohol related; compared to 30 alcohol related crashes during the same period in 2012. So far this year the most dangerous intersections in the city of La Porte in terms of crashes are:
- E Lincolnway/Boyd Boulevard with eleven crashes.
- Lincolnway/Michigan Avenue with eight crashes.
- Lincolnway/Indiana Avenue with seven crashes.
- Pine Lake Avenue/Waverly Road with five crashes.
- US 35/SR 39 and US 35/Boyd Boulevard with four crashes each
- Pine Lake Avenue/Williams Street, Pine Lake Avenue/Truesdell Avenue, 18th Street/A Street and Indiana Avenue/Jefferson Avenue with three crashes each.
Traffic Enforcement News
Officers from the La Porte Police Department worked 21 hours of Operation Pull Over funded seat belt patrols in September, writing 41 citations and 26 warnings including 36 citations for seat belt violations. These patrols wrap our Operation Pull Over activities for the current federal fiscal year which ends on September 30, 2013.
We are pleased to announce that the La Porte Police Department has received an Operation Pull Over grant in the amount of $22,500.00 for next year which will fund a total of approximately 700 hours of dangerous driving, impaired driving and seat belt patrols. Operation Pull Over is a traffic safety program which targets impaired driving; seat belt and child restraint violations; dangerous driving. Types of dangerous driving activities that are targeted include speeding, stop sign/signal violations, aggressive driving and distracted driving.
According to NHTSA, you are 23 times more likely to be in a crash if you are texting while driving. While texting is probably the distracted driving behavior that we most commonly think of, there are many other sources of distractions including eating and drinking; pets and passengers; grooming activities and radio/climate control adjustments to name a few. Please give your driving your full attention at all times. It is important to note that there are really three different major categories of distracted driving.
1. Manual – taking your hands off the wheel.
2. Visual – taking your eyes off the road.
3. Cognitive – taking your mind off driving.
It looks like, from the traffic crash statistics listed in the first paragraph of this release that it is getting a little safer to drive in the City of La Porte. We need the public’s help and commitment to continue the downward trend in traffic crashes and injuries. Therefore are asking all motorists who use the roads in our community to drive safely, buckle up and never, ever drive impaired or distracted. Thank you.