Colorado traffic fatalities up 24 percent

    Preliminary data from the Colorado Department of Transportation indicates that traffic fatalities have risen by 24 percent since 2014. In 2016, there were 605 traffic fatalities in Colorado, compared to 547 fatalities in 2015.
    “Colorado is growing, but that doesn’t mean traffic fatalities must grow too,” said CDOT executive director Shailen Bhatt. “A lot can be done to mitigate the increase; for example, if everyone buckled up, we could save over 60 lives per year.”
    CDOT’s 2017 seat belt safety campaign will launch in March with the goal of increasing the seat belt use rate beyond the current 84 percent. Unbelted occupants are over-represented in the fatality data and accounted for half of the passenger vehicle fatalities in 2016.
    The last time fatalities registered over 600 was in 2005, when 606 deaths were recorded.
    With 3.8 million licensed drivers in Colorado, 1 in every 33 Colorado drivers will be in a crash this year.
    Just about every fatal crash is due to risky behaviors, such as not using a seat belt, speeding, driving impaired or driving distracted.
    Odds of surviving a crash improve immensely if motorists buckle up, watch their speed, avoid mixing driving with drugs or alcohol and stay off their phones.
    The data also indicates that motorcycle fatalities hit an all-time record high of 125 deaths in 2016. Most of these motorcyclists were not wearing helmets.
    This is a 50 percent increase from 2012, when 79 deaths were recorded.
  

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