Dr. Herb Garrison, a Greenville emergency room doctor who runs the East Carolina Injury Prevention Program, has a five-point prescription for eliminating traffic deaths on North Carolina streets and highways.
Eliminating them? Like, down to zero?
That's the idea.
"In the emergency room, we see lots of hurt people from car wrecks," Garrison, 57, told the Road Worrier. "Having fatality-free highways is not an unrealistic goal, but it's one we need to keep working at every day."
It's good to know that we're less likely to die in crashes these days, even as we drive more. The credit can be shared by stronger laws and law enforcement, and by safer cars, drivers and highways.
Traffic volumes in the state have grown by 16 percent over the past decade - we drove a collective 103 billion miles on the roads in 2010 - but death counts have fallen since 2000 by the same 16 percent. North Carolina counted 1,312 deaths in crashes last year.
Sure, that's an improvement from 1,561 lost lives in 2000. But Garrison says each of these deaths could have been prevented.
In an article published in the N.C. Medical Journal, he and co-author Jennifer L. Smith say North Carolina should:
Make 17 the minimum driving age, as New Jersey and some European countries have done. North Carolina's graduated licensing system, which gives teens more front-seat supervision before they start diving solo, is credited with reducing accidents.
But young drivers still crash more often than older ones.
"Is it just that teens aren't yet ready?" Garrison asked. "I don't think we know. But the places where they start driving older seem to have less crashes."
Create special courts for DWI cases, to boost conviction rates. Garrison served on a task force that strengthened our drunk-driving laws. But he sees defense lawyers manipulate the system by getting cases postponed until they land in front of judges more likely to go easy.
Prosecutors across the state won convictions in only 65 percent of DWI cases during the 12 months that ended June 30, 2010, but in a Johnston County DWI court the conviction rate was 89 percent.
"Judges in DWI courts, where that's all they work on, tend to be less lenient," Garrison said.
Outlaw phoning while driving, a notion that seems to have stronger support in the legislature this year. North Carolina forbids texting for all drivers and phones for those under 18. The new House speaker, Rep. Thom Tillis of Charlotte, has endorsed a ban on hand-held phones for all drivers.
"There are tons of people in the state, yours truly included, who talk on the cell phone and find it very convenient," Garrison said. "And yet the distractions are contributing to a lot of bad wrecks."
Build more bike lanes and sidewalks, for safer travel on foot and on two wheels.
Make roundabouts standard at intersections, and rumble strips standard on road shoulders and on center lines. Rumble strips make noise to warn drivers they are drifting out of their lanes and possibly headed for danger. Studies show that roundabouts eliminate most right-angle crashes at intersections.
"These may be our most important recommendations," he said. And, he acknowledges, the most expensive - in a state with thousands of intersections and thousands of miles of highways.
Cliff Braam, a traffic safety specialist for the state Department of Transportation who has worked with Garrison on safety initiatives, says Garrison's recommendations are "all good ideas."
Braam also favors stronger efforts to reduce speeding - a factor in one of every three fatal crashes - and to increase seat-belt use. Ten percent of the state's drivers and vehicle passengers fail to wear seat belts, but among those killed in crashes, the unbelted share is 43 percent.
"That 10 percent of the people is having a huge impact on society," Braam said. "If getting all those 43 percent belted would save half of those deaths, it would put a real dent in our numbers."
Garrison concedes that his recommendations may be unpopular or expensive, or both.
"I don't think I've proposed a single thing that's not provocative," he said. "That's OK. That's how you make progress, I think."
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Dr. Herb Garrison's article, "Is Fatality-Free Travel on North Carolina's Streets and Highways Feasible?" was published in the November-December issue of the N.C. Medical Journal. It's available online at www.ncmedicaljournal .com .
