Sharp drop seen in alcohol-related crash fatalities

Col. Tom Butler, the Montana Highway Patrol’s chief administrator, had some good news in his annual report for 2013 — a nearly 30 percent reduction in alcohol-related fatalities.

“While it is difficult to quantify such a dramatic decrease, I am convinced it is a combination of recent legislative law changes, continued expansion of Montana’s 24-7 Sobriety Program, and the diligent work of our troopers and the entire law enforcement community,” he said. “Historically, Montana has had a culture of drinking and driving, and I am hopeful that future annual reports continue to build off the positive trend of 2013 in the overall fatality count and alcohol-related fatal crashes.”

Butler noted that a lot has changed from past “horrific years,” such as 1972 when the state saw 395 fatalities in motor vehicle crashes. There were 229 deaths in 203 fatal crashes in 2013.

“Clearly advancements have been made in motor vehicles, highway design and enforcement strategies that have impacted our level of fatalities since 1972,” he said.

Montana’s rate of one fatality reported every 38 hours is 10 percent higher than 2012, but the injury numbers were down 5 percent, to 7,131 injuries in 5,249 injury crashes.

Flathead County ranked fourth among Montana counties for all crashes at 1,785 in 2013 but ranked second for fatal crashes with 19 deaths.

There are some visible trends in the crash data — by far most crashes, and most fatal crashes, occurred on dry pavement in clear weather during daytime, and drugs or alcohol were not present. That’s likely a case of volume — that’s when and how most people are driving.

A closer look reveals that in fatal crashes, alcohol was present in about 21 percent of drivers, and drugs were present in about 10 percent.

Statistically, most crashes occurred in 2013 between 3 and 4 p.m. on Fridays in December and involved a rear-end or right-angle collision. But most fatal crashes occurred between 9 and 10 p.m. on Saturdays in August and involved a head-on collision.

A breakdown of driver-related contributing circumstances shows that 18 percent of all crashes are caused by inattentive drivers, 15 percent are caused by speeders, 12 percent are caused by failure to yield the right of way, and 11 percent are caused by erratic, reckless, careless or negligent driving. About 1 percent were attributable to cell phone use, which has only been recently tracked by the Highway Patrol.

Thirty-four people died in 32 fatal motorcycle crashes in 2013. All told, there were 442 motorcycle crashes and 379 people were injured.

Statistics on the use of alcohol or drugs in motorcycle crashes is unclear — the presence of alcohol or drugs wasn’t reported in more than half of all crashes in 2013.