Accidents analyzed: Who gets a ticket depends on lots of factors
digg it!
Facebook
del.icio.us
Seed Newsvine
Fark It
Reddit
By MARK ANDERSEN / Lincoln Journal Star
Traffic laws say every driver must maintain control of his or her vehicle regardless of conditions.
In other words, slow down and anticipate problems.
But every winter starts with a little re-education.
Related Media
On Dec. 6, Lincoln police worked 161 wrecks on icy streets. Here’s a look at the numbers.
What crashed
- Vast majority of wrecks involved two vehicles.
- They included 124 cars, 44 SUVs, 34 pickups, 23 vans, 10 semis.
- Average car damage: $1,433
- Average SUV damage: $1,835
- Average pickup damage: $1,365
- Average van damage: $1,548
- Average semi damage: $567
- The typical car involved in a wreck was a 1999. About half ranged from 1998s to 2004s. About one-sixth were newer than that.
- There were 45 Fords, 40 Chevys, 23 Dodges and 16 Hondas, along with other makes.
- 92 drivers aged 16 to 29.
- 89 drivers aged 30-49.
- 48 drivers were older than 50.
- The median age of drivers cited was 29. The median age of those not cited was 35.
- Rear-ending: Roughly a third of classifiable accidents involved vehicles running into the rear ends of other vehicles stopping or slowing in front of them. Average damage: $925.
- Sliding through: Roughly a fourth involved vehicles sliding into an intersection to hit something or be hit. Average damage: $1,905.
- Sliding over: Almost one-fifth involved vehicles spinning or sliding into another lane to hit something or be hit. Average damage: $1,445.
- Sliding around: The remainder either slid into something while turning, or slid off the road without hitting another vehicle. Average damage when a vehicle lost control in a turn: $962. Average damage when a vehicle left road to hit a pole, sign, ditch: $2,572.
- 126 men and 109 women were in wrecks. Men were cited more often than women.
- Men were more likely to leave the road, lose control while making a turn or spin into another lane.
- Women were slightly more likely to slide into a car in front of them or slide into an intersection and get hit.
- Officers issued citations in 61 percent of wrecks involving vans, 53 percent involving cars, 48 percent involving SUVs, 40 percent involving semis and 34 percent involving pickups.
- Median estimated damage in cases in which citations were issued: $1,200. Median estimated damage when citations were not issued: $1,000.
- Most officers wrote one or two accident reports; 19 officers accounted for three or more.
- Six officers who wrote three reports issued no citations, and one officer who wrote three reports issued three citations; one officer who wrote four reports wrote no citations. But one officer who wrote five reports issued citations in all five cases.
- There were 17 hit-and-runs. 11 accidents resulted in injuries.
- Roughly 20 percent wrecked within 1 mile of home.
- Roughly 30 percent wrecked within 2 miles of home.
- Roughly two thirds wrecked within 5 miles of home.
- About 10 percent of Lincoln wrecks involved people more than 40 miles from home.
Newton’s law states that on the worst icy roads, a moving car will continue to move until it hits a pole or other vehicle, no matter what a driver does — or something to that effect.
At 7 a.m. on Dec. 6, the two laws battled for supremacy in the minds of 62 Lincoln police officers who would write reports on the 161 wrecks occurring on city streets over the next 14 hours.
That isn’t a record for the number of accidents in a single day, said Police Chief Tom Casady, but it was the greatest one-day tally in the past five years.
That day, roughly one in every 1,000 Lincoln residents would hit, bump or crunch something, giving body shop owners better Christmases at the expense of insurance companies and their customers.
Of the total collisions, citations would be issued in roughly half, adding $8,000 in traffic tickets to the day’s vehicle damage estimate of $363,600.
Just who got ticketed depended on a number of factors, including the responding officer, how busy officers were at the time, the type of accident, the amount of damage and the number of vehicles involved, according to a Journal Star analysis.
There remains enough inconsistency to state that for some people who got cited, this just wasn’t a lucky day — provided they had doubts after making a corner shot that involved bouncing a late-model SUV off two rails and kissing a road grader.
First, the caveats of the analysis.
While all reports were examined, not all of the day’s collisions generated reports; not all reports were complete; and not everyone cited went on to pay a fine.
Scott Evans of Lincoln, report No. 130552, was cited when his Dodge pickup slid slowly down an incline and into an intersection near 84th and O streets as he futilely flashed his lights and honked his horn to warn crossing drivers.
The young woman who hit him called her dad, who called police, who showed up 45 minutes later and gave Evans a ticket, apologetically explaining he probably could get it waived, Evans said.
It did cause him to wonder, “So why are you giving me one?”
What irked Evans most, he said, was that as the officer stood there, an exact replica of his accident occurred — and those two drivers exchanged insurance information and drove off.
Evans’s ticket did get waived.
Casady noted an officer’s report isn’t required unless there is an injury or damage to any vehicle exceeds $1,000.
Which may explain, he said, why some officers don’t issue citations during icy conditions when vehicle damage is slight.
“It’s kind of penalizing them when they weren’t required to call in the first place,” Casady said.
Officers also use greater discretion in single-vehicle accidents in which only the driver’s cars are damaged.
The guiding policy, Casady said, is that drivers should take weather conditions into consideration. When they don’t and an accident results, police should issue citations.
“But the officer may take into account aggravating and mitigating circumstances,” he said.
Reach Mark Andersen at 473-7238 or mandersen@journalstar.com.
Post Your Comment
Standards and RulesYour posted comment will appear after it has been approved.
Frequently asked questions about story commenting.
Thank you to NSP and LSO for helping that night. "
There are hit and runs in Lincoln everyday, and most will never solved. The year stats on the number of Hit and Runs in Lincoln is appalling, yet the number continue to rise, and victims suffer with injuries, medical bills, and higher insurance rates.
LPD really needs to get on the ball with this issue and do more!
Can you hear me now Casaday?
"
It took months to get a check after my wife's car was drilled at a red light.
Thanks, douglas county! "
Gleefully, I am happy to see this happening, but I have to wonder, why it has taken so damn long? This is a side street mind you, but it bears a lot of traffic as it is one of a few through-way roads in this area.
It is solid ice, with three to four inches of ice in places, all compacted down, by the heavy traffic on Pace Blvd, and of the last places to see a snowplow or sand truck, in this case, nearly 30 days later.
"
City workers should continue to clear the streets until they are CLEARED. The blades should actually go all the whole down too, not up an inch so you can go home earlier. In several intersections, you needed a 4x4 to get through due to the ruts of solid ice and this is WEEKS after the storm.
COME ON!! This is just stupid. "
Are you just pitching a general complaint, or do you have a productive suggestion that is practical for the smallest police force per capita in Nebraska? "
We used to say that if the Lincoln cops could determine fault, they issue a ticket. If they can't determine fault, they issue two! "
when someone trys as in Evans case and you can't do any
thing when its ice. Then let some idiot run a red light
and the cop quickly looks the other way! I quickly stopped at a stop sign, there wasn't a car in sight for
blocks and blocks, but because I didn't set there and
wait for 10 minutes to see if a car would come, a cop
sitting down the street came after me like I was a
criminal and cited me. But isn't that the normal Lincoln
reasoning? Lived 50 years in another city/state and was
never in my life STOPPED or ticketed!! Might help if the
streets had been salted before all the ice built up. At
least in my former city they don't let the streets get
into that kind of shape like Lincoln does, then punish
the people trying to negociate on them!!!! "
89 drivers aged 30-49. (20 years) 39%
48 drivers were older than 50. (25+ years) 21%
The median age of drivers cited was 29. The median age of those not cited was 35.
Now I'm curious. These stats are from one icy day. A resposible journalist would know that this data is available to the public, so I ask, in light of the recent passing of the bill about young people and cell phones and riders, can we see an investigative article on the relationship between age groups and accidents during the rest of the year? This report would include percentage of population for each age group as well as percent of accidents. Just curious. Go! "
ordinance and that he would get in trouble if he didn't
write the citation. But this is Columbus, so what else
would you expect! "
"
Want more done by the city - pay more taxes - they are already stretched thin.
"
You told Dak!!
Thanks for the great work you do to keep this a safe city "
when its icy out you are EXPECTED to compensate by driving slower. it's not your right to have a license, it's a privilege. Doesn't take Einstein to drive a car carefully. Next time you are rear ended by someone sliding on the ice, i wanna see you tell them no problem, it wasn't their fault. Let them go and not get their insurance info "
Maybe, just maybe enough people are upset with his actions to use this lack of concern on his part to say a recall just may be justified.
"