Plan to cut traffic deaths wins award

South Central Planning & Development Commission’s (SCPDC) plan to reduce highway fatalities won the 2013 National Roadway Safety Award.

The Roadway Safety Foundation and the Federal Highway Administration presented the award last Wednesday in Washington, D.C.

Kevin Belanger, CEO of SCPDC, said the organization was the first in the state to implement this type of road safety plan, which seeks to reduce the number of roadway fatalities in the region by 50 percent in 2030.

“It’s a collaborative effort with the Safe Communities Task Force, as well as the general public,” he said. “We are very honored to receive this award. It shows the public is taking heed of the educational things we put out. We’ve received a lot of suggestions on how to improve our roadways and we take those to the round-table and come up with solutions.”

Belanger said SCPDC’s plan is serving as model for other jurisdictions, including New Orleans and Lafayette. He said the initiative and planning began in 2001, with the creation of the Safe Communities Task Force.

“Law enforcement and transportation officials got together to address areas which were problematic safety concerns,” he said. “Ultimately, they were concerned with traffic fatalities.”

The plan, which is supported by the Houma-Thibodaux Metropolitan Planning Organization HTMPO, concentrates on four main areas, including: occupant protection; alcohol-related driving; crashes involving young drivers; and, infrastructure improvements and operations.

Rudynah Capone, SCPDC regional safety coordinator and HTMPO staff member, said the plan is ongoing and must be adopted every three years through Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development. She said the award-winning plan was implemented in October, 2011, and covers a six-parish region, including: Assumption, Lafourche, Terrebonne, St. Charles, St. John the Baptist and St. James.

“We track the numbers and record milestones through road safety audits,” she said. “We’ve already done Terrebonne, Lafourche, St. Charles and St. James parishes,” she said. “We’re currently doing road safety audits in Terrebonne, St. James and Assumption parishes.”

Capone said the plan has already resulted in a number of successes, including a decrease of alcohol-related traffic fatalities.

“We track using three-year averages in the six parishes,” she said. “For alcohol-impaired fatalities, it dropped from an average of 33 in 2011, to 32 in 2012.”

Capone said fatalities involving young drivers dropped from an average of 26 in 2011, to 25 in 2012; while serious injury accidents involving young people dropped from 251 in 2011, to 238 in 2012.

“In Houma, seatbelt use is higher than it is statewide,” she said. “In Houma the number is 85.5 percent; statewide it is 82.5 percent.”

Officials with the Roadway Safety Foundation report deficiencies in the roadway environment contribute to roughly one-third of all traffic deaths. Capone said this is an area SCPDC is addressing, although the number of fatalities involving infrastructure have stayed about the same for the last two years.

“We’re currently undertaking road safety assessments on high-crash local roads,” she said. “The state DOTD is working on infrastructure right now, putting safety signs on all the roads – chevrons on curves and ‘signal ahead’ signs. Run-offs account for many of our road fatalities.”

Capone said when it comes to planning for road safety SCPDC is “ahead of the curve.”

“I’m happy to be working with such a dynamic group of stakeholders,” she said. “We’re saving lives and reducing fatalities.”