TheVirginia Highway Safety Office Mission Statement is “To reduce crashes, injuries, fatalities and associated cost by identifying transportation safety issues and developing and implementing effective integrated programs and activities.” To this end, Virginia Highway Safety Office has proposed a number of measures in their 2008 Highway Safety Plan intended to address the biggest problems on Virginia’s roadways today.

Virginia Transportation Safety Officials are focusing on the following five areas in order to improve highway safety:

• Occupant Protection
• Impaired Driving
• Traffic Records
• Motorcycle Safety
• Aggressive Driving and Speeding

Highway safety issues facing Virginia

In 2006 – the last year for which statistics are available – a state population of 7,642,884 with 7,386,061 registered vehicles and 5,394,888 licensed drivers experienced 151,692 accidents which resulted in 961 fatalities and 73,348.

The Virginia Highway Safety Office listed the following as issues facing the state in their attempts to improve highway safety:

• A diverse mix of traffic including urban, suburban, and rural driving
• An active tourism market
• Several military installations
• Diverse cultural communities that speak many languages
• College campuses spread out across the state
• Shared borders with two busy metro traffic areas: Washington D.C. and Maryland
• Shared borders with primary seat belt law states / districts (Virginia is a secondary seat belt law state)

Occupant Protection

The Highway Safety Office chose to focus on occupant protection because they believe that correct safety belt use is one of the best ways to achieve a greater measure of safety in crashes. Currently, safety belt use in Virginia stands at about 78% however more can be done to improve that number.

Virginia’s 2008 goal is to improve safety belt use in the state, in order to reduce injuries and fatalities in car accidents.

Objectives:

1. To increase safety belt usage in Virginia from 79.9% to 82% by June, 2008
2. To decrease lives lost by 1 percent from 961 to 951 by December, 2008
3. To decrease injuries by 1 percent from 73, 348 to 72,614 by June, 2008
4. To convert 16% of non-seat belt users to become seat belt users by June, 2008

Impaired Driving

One of the most persistent problems in many states, including Virginia, is impaired driving as a result of alcohol or drugs use. Impaired driving contributes to a large number of the fatal and serious accident injuries in the state, and more needs to be done to enhance existing legislation and safety efforts.

The Virginia Highway Safety Office’s fiscal year 2008 goal is to reduce the number of alcohol/drug-related crashes, injuries and fatalities in Virginia.

Objectives:

1. To decrease alcohol/drug-related crashes 1% from 11,736 to 11,618 by June, 2008
2. To decrease alcohol/drug-related fatalities 5% from 374 to 355 by June, 2008
3. To decrease alcohol/drug-related injuries 1% from 7,543 to 7,467 by June, 2008
4. To conduct an assessment of the Checkpoint Strike Force Campaign during 2008
5. To increase the number of DUI checkpoints to 300 by January, 2008
6. To increase participation of enforcement agencies involved in DUI Checkpoint Strike Force campaigns from 118 agencies in 2006 to 125 agencies in 2008

Traffic Records

Traffic records are important to any state highway safety program, and the Virginia Highway Safety Office believes that access to timely and accurate data will allow them to better plan safety strategies and appropriately allocate resources to highway safety programs.

Virginia’s fiscal year 2008 goal is to improve the collection and accessibility of traffic records system data to provide enhanced traffic records data to customers and to improve DMV customer service.

Objectives:

1. To modify DMV’s current crash database to capture statewide highway safety data (i.e. traffic crash data) to provide accurate and timely highway safety and traffic crash information.
2. To design and implement a statewide, comprehensive, automated crash reporting system for the collection of crash data by law enforcement.

Motorcycle Safety

In recent years Virginia has suffered from an increase in motorcycle accidents, largely because of the increased popularity of this mode of transportation. There are more motorcycles registered in Virginia than ever before, and effective enforcement, training, education and awareness programs are needed to reverse the rise in accident injuries and fatalities.

The Highway Safety Office’s 2008 goal is to reduce the motorcycle death rate in Virginia.

Objectives:

1. To decrease the motorcycle fatality rate by 2% from 23.5 to 23.0 by June, 2008.
2. To decrease the motorcycle crash rate by 2% from 83.9 to 82.2 by June, 2008.

Aggressive Driving and Speeding

Aggressive and speeding drivers are a major safety problem on Virginia’s roads, which results in many preventable accidents every year. The Highway Safety Office wishes to focus additional resources on enforcement and education activities to raise public awareness about the dangers of aggressive driving and excessive speed.

Virginia’s 2008 goal is to decrease speed-related crashes in Virginia.

Objectives:

1. To decrease the speed-related fatality rate by 2% from 0.51 to 0.50
2. To decrease the speed-related injury rate by 1% from 20.57 to 20.36

In the unfortunate even that you or someone you love is injured in an auto accident, you will probably want an experienced attorney on your side to fight for your rights. Don’t let yourself be bullied by insurance companies or hospital claims departments – contact The Serpe Firm today and let us work with you for the compensation that you deserve. Let us help you recover from the devastating effects of a serious auto accident and get your life back on track.

Law Offices of Richard J. Serpe, P.C.
580 East Main Street, Suite 310
Norfolk, VA 23510
Phone: 757-233-0009
Fax: 757-233-0455