VIRGINIA LOSES MORE THAN 1,000 LIVES TO TRAFFIC CRASHES IN 2007
10 Killed in Traffic Crashes During New Year’s Holiday Weekend
RICHMOND – Tragically Virginia closed out the year of 2007 with a traffic fatality rate in excess of 1,000 for the first time in more than 17 years. As a result of a triple fatality in the city of Lynchburg in the predawn hours of Dec. 29, 2007, Virginia’s traffic fatality rate met and exceeded the 1,000 threshold. Today’s preliminary total brings the year’s traffic fatality count to 1,012 for 2007. That number includes the deaths of 83 pedestrians. According to the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), the last time Virginia lost 1,012 lives to traffic crashes was in 1981.
“In the past decade, from 1997 through 2007, more than 10,000 men, women, teens and children have lost their lives in traffic crashes on Virginia’s roads,” said Colonel W. Steven Flaherty, Virginia State Police Superintendent. “With a new year upon us, every driver and passenger needs to make traffic safety an everyday priority. It’s the only way we will save lives on Virginia’s highways in 2008 and beyond.”
Over the New Year’s holiday weekend a preliminary count indicates 10 individuals, including one pedestrian, lost their lives in eight traffic crashes on Virginia’s highways. The statistical counting period began Friday, Dec. 29, 2007, at 6 p.m. and ended at midnight Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2008. Alcohol was a factor in at least two of the fatal crashes. Of the nine drivers and passengers killed, seven were not buckled up. During the 2006-2007 New Year’s holiday weekend, 13 people were killed in traffic crashes.
Of those killed during the 2007-2008 holiday weekend, one involved a pedestrian struck in Prince William County. The remaining fatal New Year’s weekend crashes occurred in the cities of Lynchburg and Hampton, and the counties of Botetourt, Page, Patrick, Warren and Wise.
As the traffic fatality rate began to sharply increase in 2007, the Virginia State Police joined forces with the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) and DMV to create the Highway Safety Challenge (www.safeVAhighways.org). Through continuing enforcement, education and engineering efforts the Highway Safety Challenge will persist through 2008. The traffic safety program challenges motorists to think safety and act responsibly by asking, “Are you Virginia’s next traffic fatality?” To prevent one’s self from becoming the New Year’s next fatal statistic, the public is advised to always:
###
