Reasons for drop in fatal crashes locally uncertain

By Joe Gerrety, Journal and Courier

First, the bad news: In the 3 1/2 years since the Journal and Courier began aggressively tracking and reporting fatal crashes caused by impaired drivers, 60 such wrecks have resulted in 67 deaths that affected the Lafayette area.

That's 1.6 deaths every month.

Now, the good news: Comparing the two-year period of 1999-2000 to the past 18 months, the rate of such fatalities had dropped from 2.1 a month to 0.9 a month.

Aggressive prosecution, along with conspicuous media coverage of the problem likely have been a factor in the statistics, according to Carroll County prosecutor James Huffer.

"The more publicity that newspapers and magazines and the media give to any problem, over time it will sink in," Huffer said. "In my view, it has become socially unacceptable to drink and drive while intoxicated."

Jasper County prosecutor Michael D. O'Neall, who has one fatal OWI case pending in his county, has noticed that a well-publicized drunken driving case tends to cut down on the volume of arrests for awhile.

"Sentence a few guys, and it slows up," said O'Neall, who has been the elected prosecutor in Jasper County since 1990 and also was a deputy prosecutor in the 1970s.

Based on his experience questioning prospective jurors over the years, O'Neall said, he's noticed a definite change in attitude toward drunken driving.

"I think the population is a lot more aware and a lot more concerned about it," he said.

"I really do think awareness helps. But if I had an answer, I'd patent it and publish it."

Whether 3 1/2 years is a sufficient period of time to identify trends is debatable. And the statistics accumulated by the Journal and Courier are not scientific.

They include crashes that occurred on Lafayette-area highways that involved people from out of town, as well as out-of-town crashes that involved Lafayette-area residents.

And the statistics from the past 18 months do not include two fatal crashes that police suspect involved drunken driving but for which authorities have not yet obtained blood-alcohol contents. Those two crashes -- one in Clinton County and one in Carroll County -- occurred within the past 10 weeks.

The list does include seven cases in which the drivers had illegal drugs in their systems, but not alcohol. Some others on the list had both alcohol and illegal drugs in their blood.

Only time will tell whether the drop in fatalities locally is a trend, according to Dan Towery of West Lafayette, who became an outspoken advocate of legal reform in the area of drunken driving after his daughter, Sarah, was killed in 1999 in one of the worst drunken driving tragedies in years.

"In my work, we look at five years to establish trends," said Towery, a Purdue University agronomist who tracks the types of tillage practices used by farmers at national, regional, state and local levels.

"I think the awareness level is definitely higher now. I think the 0.08 legislation has increased the awareness," Towery said.

But he doubts the awareness has changed people's drinking and driving behavior on a large scale -- particularly for heavy drinkers, those most likely to cause highway fatalities.

"Things don't change overnight," Towery said.

National statistics do not reflect an improving trend. According to preliminary traffic death statistics released in April by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 16,652 people died in alcohol-related crashes in 2001, down one death from 16,653 in 2000.