Photo Credit: AAA
HYANNIS – Though traffic volumes across the state have dropped due to coronavirus restrictions, AAA Northeast is reporting that the number of motor vehicle fatalities has remained the same.
“We had a very sharp drop off in traffic volumes right after the stay at home advisory happened in March,” said Massachusetts Highway Administrator John Gulliver.
“Along with that came a really disturbing trend to us that we saw at the end of the month as accident reports starting coming in, what we were seeing is that even though the volume of traffic had dropped by as much as 70 percent across the state, and sometimes in certain segments even more than that that, we were seeing that are fatality numbers stayed about the same.”
According to AAA, a major issue present during the virus shut down has been increased speeds across the state.
“Along with traffic volumes dropping we also saw a pretty large increase in speed,” continued Gulliver.
Across the state the average speed has increased roughly 10 mph on highways during typical drive times, and up to 15 mph during night hours.
Gulliver added that the majority of the crashes have taken place on local roadways.
“It has impacted not just state highways, but a lot of local roadways as well, in fact the majority of these crashed were happening on local roadways, at intersections, and on straightaways,” said Gulliver.
“In many cases they involved more than just the driver, in some cases passengers in other cars, pedestrians, and cyclists are involved.”
The increase in speed across the Commonwealth has caught the attention of state police.
According to data collected by Massachusetts State Police and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, during the first five months of 2019 state police issued nearly 148,000 citations, 35 percent of which were for speeding.
During the first five months of 2020 state police issued roughly 101,000 citations, a lower number because of COVID-19 restrictions.
However 38 percent of the citations were for speeding, a 3 percent increase over the previous year.
“I think anybody that has driven the Commonwealth roadways recently knows that some are using this pandemic and the decreased traffic as an invitation to speed,” said Massachusetts State Police Cornel Christopher Mason.
Officers have been participating in new programs designed to reduce motor vehicle fatalities and reckless driving.
Last month state police held a speed enforcement detail in central Mass.
According to Mason, 30 civil motor vehicle citations were written, with 22 people being stopped for speeds between 90 and 100 mph, and 3 people being stopped for speeds exceeding 100 mph.
“This is occurring right on our Commonwealth roads,” said Mason.
“I think you get a sense of how dangerous and how risky the roads have become in some places.”
The State Police have implemented a number of programs to promote highway safety and target aggressive driving behaviors.
One such program is the “Sustained Traffic Enforcement Program” or STEP program.
Seven enforcement events consisting of a four officer enforcement team were held across the state with the intent to stop, identify, and take action against operates of vehicles traveling at high speeds.
As a result of those program efforts, 1,426 citations were issued between April 21 and May 20.
In the areas were the dedicated speed enforcement programs occurred, state police found that crashes increased by one percent over a 27 day period as opposed to a six percent increase over that same period of time in areas that did not have the enforcement programs.
“Well still an unacceptable increase, we were hardened to that those speed enforcement efforts seemed to be generating results and seemed to be generating voluntary compliance which at the end of the day is what we’re always looking to do,” said Mason.
Massachusetts State Police are currently running a “Speed and Aggressive Driving Enforcement” campaign.
The campaign runs through June 30, and consists of 60 teams of eight officers focused on reducing crashes and fatalities through stopping speeding and motor vehicles that are driving in a reckless manner.
AAA noted that traffic volumes are slowly beginning to rise as COVID-19 restrictions are lifted.
They are reminding drivers to be aware of this change and that since schools will not be returning to in-person classes, to be aware of kids who may be outside.
AAA is also reminding teenage drives to take precautions as it is currently the “100 Deadliest Days” driving period.
The “100 Deadliest Days” runs from Memorial Day to Labor day.
For more information and safety tips from AAA, click here.
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