Fast & Furious: Pandemic speeding has deadly consequences
While overall crashes dipped by 14% across the state in lighter traffic during 2020, troopers point to extra high speeds for a 12% spike in traffic deaths.
Posted — Updated2020 was the deadliest year on North Carolina’s roadways since 2007, despite a significant drop in traffic volume because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Nash County Sheriff Keith Stone says his deputies are tracking drivers at "110, 115 miles per hour. Just crazy speeds."
While the pandemic slowed most everything down, Deputy Devin Hicks says driving was not included. "I’ve seen from 80 up to 118, 120," he said.
The past year seemed to speed up excessive speeders. "You get that mindset that there’s less cars out there, there’s more freedom to do what I want, but there’s not," says State Highway Patrol First Sgt. Chris Knox.
He readily acknowledges a drop in enforcement played a role in the pandemic speeding. WRAL Investigates found statistics that show traffic stops and citations fell off more than 30% in 2020.
Knox says the pandemic put the patrol in a tough position. "We were in a bad place. I mean, we were having to figure out, as an agency, how can we keep our roads safe while keeping our people safe," he said.
Even with reduced enforcement, those caught exceeding the speed limit by 25 miles per hour or more jumped 35% from 35,593 citations in 2019 to 42,742 in 2020.
"One passed me, he was right around a hundred miles per hour," Knox recalled about his time on patrol last year.
Stone believes another issue contributed to the deadly year on the roads. The virus disrupted the court system, which means many drivers got off the hook. "Everybody makes mistakes, but these repeat offenders – over and over and over – they’re a danger to the motoring public," Stone says.
WRAL Investigates rode with Nash County deputies running traffic enforcement on U.S. Highway 64 to see the high speeds firsthand. Within minutes, they pulled over cars for running in excess of 80 and 90 mph. One stop turned up marijuana in a diaper bag and children without car seats in the back seat.
Stone says drivers need to think more about the consequences. "You’re not only putting yourself, you’re putting law enforcement and every kid, every family member, every motoring public at a very high risk of death or serious injury that’s going to effect them for the rest of their life," he says.
After Apex Police recently caught a driver doing 158 miles an hour on Interstate 540, WRAL Investigates spent several hours in different parts of the day with a radar gun tracking speeds on I-540 and I-40. While most drivers traveled within sight of the speed limit, that wasn’t the case for everyone. On the Beaver Creek Commons overpass above 540, cars flew by. WRAL clocked extremely high speeds, including several 88s, 89s, 91s and even a 95 miles per hour. The morning pre-rush hour saw the most excessive speeding.
Those speeds led to a deadly year. While overall crashes dipped by 14% across the state in the lighter traffic, troopers point to extra high speeds for the 12% spike in traffic deaths. More than 1,650 people died on our roads last year.
High speeds can end with a high price. With COVID-19 more under control, expect to see enforcement on the roads. "The only way to stop those excessive speeds is to be out there, to be seen," says Hicks. His boss feels courts also have to do their part, "There has to be swift sincere punishment for these violations," says Stone.
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