The amount of traffic accidents and traffic citations decreased during the Below 100 initiative in March. However, Chief Kirk Lane said there is still ample opportunities to continue that decrease in an effort to make Benton roadways safer.
“We thank everyone in the community for being more attentive during last month’s initiative,” he said. “We encourage everyone to continue that attentiveness and have a desire to drive safer. Our goal during this initiative was not to write more traffic tickets, rather we encourage everyone to comply with traffic laws so that the number of traffic accidents will continue to decrease.”
During the Below 100 initiative, officers focused on stopping distracted drivers, intoxicated drivers, drivers and passengers not wearing seat belts, speeding drivers, and other traffic violations. Though the initiative has ended, officers will continue to search for violators during routine patrol.
In January, officers responded to 121 traffic accidents and that number decreased to 107 traffic accidents in February. In March, during the Below 100 initiative, officers responded to 58 traffic accidents for a decrease of 49 accidents (46 percent) from February, and a decrease of 63 accidents (52 percent) from January. In another comparison, officers responded to 114 traffic accidents in March 2016. This means there were 56 less traffic accidents in March 2017 than in March 2016 (a 49 percent decrease).
In February, there were 8 traffic accidents in which a person received a citation for unsafe driving, and there were 6 people cited for unsafe driving from accidents in March. In March 2016, officers wrote 201 unsafe driving citations, and 130 speeding citations. In March 2017, officers wrote 134 unsafe driving citations, and 60 speeding citations.
However, In January there were 10 DWI arrests and 11 DWI arrests in February; the DWI arrests increased to 13 in March. March 2016 also has 10 DWI arrests.
- 9,306 – the number of people who died in intoxicated driver crashes in 2015.
- Distracted driving caused the death of 3,477 people, and 431,000 were injured in vehicle crashes involving distracted drivers, in 2015
- 9,557 – the number of deaths caused by speeding drivers.
- 13,941 – the number of people age 5 and older who were saved by wearing seat belts in 2015.
To report suspicious driving and/or accidents, call the Benton Police Department at 501-778-1171 or 501-315-TIPS. Individuals also may send us anonymous information to CRIMES (274637) with the keyword BNPD in the body of the text or go to www.crimereports.com to leave a tip. A crime tip can also be submitted via the official Benton Police Department app found on ITunes and Google Play.
Follow BNPD on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Benton-Police-Department/221829174560849