'Highway of death' again has most accidents

The state of Kansas had a decrease in the number of vehicle fatalities in 2008 — 384 down from 416 in 2007.

The Harvey County Sheriff’s Department does not keep a database on accidents from year to year, but Harvey County Sheriff T. Walton said the two fatality accidents worked by the sheriff’s department in 2008 was low.

Harvey County Road and Bridge accounted for 268 accidents in Harvey County, which the sheriff’s office responded to in 2008. This did not include accidents within cities or covered by the Kansas Highway Patrol.

Those accidents followed a pattern that would be expected, Walton said, with most accidents happening in high-traffic areas and along the state highways and the interstate.

Thirty-three of those accidents happened on Interstate 135. However, U.S. Highway 50 topped the list with 47 accidents stretched from county border to border. Six of those accidents were injury accidents, and one was a fatality.

Walton said U.S. 50 has been dubbed the “highway of death” for the frequency of accidents and fatalities on the heavily traveled two-lane road.

Although U.S. 50 claimed one life on March 4 of last year, Walton said the end of construction on that road has decreased the frequency of accidents and deaths on the highway in the county.

“It seemed we were responding to accidents out there about every week,” he said.

The county’s other fatality was on May 2 at Emma Creek Road and West First Street.

County roads that saw high incidents of accidents included Halstead Road, Dutch Avenue, First Street, Hesston Road, Ridge Road and Burmac Road.

Walton said these areas are not necessarily to be avoided, but drivers and law enforcement can take precautions to decrease accident frequency, such as trying to reduce speeding.

The sheriff’s department tries to listen to members of the community and step up enforcement in areas where there appear to be problems, Walton said.

Some residents recently expressed concerns about speeders on Ridge Road after AGCO lets shifts out.

“We are going to have a presence in that area,” Walton said. “We don’t want to give tickets, but we want to slow that down and to prevent accidents.”

Time of year and weather conditions also can be factors in an increase in accidents, Walton said.

Rural areas tend to have an increase in vehicle accidents from October through December during deer rutting season, and officials urge motorist to be vigilant during these times, especially when driving at dawn or dusk.

Weather also is a factor.

The county had a cluster of vehicle accidents on Jan. 16, when the area was hit by an ice storm.

The Kansas Department of Transportation cited an increase in concerns for safety through tougher seat-belt drunken-driving laws as reasons the Kansas fatality rate went down.

Seat-belt usage is at 77.3 percent, according to KDOT.

But KDOT Secretary Deb Miller said the number of fatalities on Kansas roads is still too high.

“That number still represents too many families who are grieving over what may have been a preventable death,” Miller said in a news release. “Even though we’ve increased our seat belt use to 77.3 percent, this number reflects that nearly one person out of every four is still not buckling up.”

Walton said he is still concerned about distracted drivers, especially those who use cell phones while driving and the prevalence of accidents among younger drivers.

“They (the Legislature) has talked about increasing the age to get a driver’s license,” Walton said. “It is an awesome responsibility to get in a car. That is thousands of pounds of machine that you are controlling with your foot and your hands.”

Crash statistics, including fatalities, were first recorded in 1947. Last year is only the second time since then the number of fatalities in the state has been less than 400. The only other year was 1992 when 387 people were killed.

Whether the fatality rates remain low is yet to be seen. Walton said he thought some of the decrease in accidents was a result of fewer people driving in 2008 because of high gas prices.

Now that gas prices have decreased, that may change, he said.