More than 600 people died on Colorado’s roadways last year, according to statistics gathered by state transportation officials, up about 11 percent from 2015 and the highest total in a decade, despite increased work to brake a now-six-year rise in fatalities.
Of the at least 605 deaths on Colorado’s roads in 2016, 380 were drivers or passengers in cars, sport utility vehicles and trucks, the Colorado Department of Transportation numbers show. Motorcyclists accounted for another 125 of the deaths, while a 15-year high of 84 pedestrians and 16 bicyclists died on the road.
In 2015, 547 people died on the state’s roadways. The last time the fatality count was so high was in 2005, when 606 people were killed.
“It is disappointing to see the numbers continue to rise,” said Sam Cole, CDOT’s traffic safety communications manager. “This is an emerging crisis in Colorado.”
While officials say the cause of the spike is hard to pinpoint, they blame everything from distracted and impaired driving to low seat belt use and motorcyclists not wearing helmets and other protective gear. The increase in deaths outpaced Colorado’s estimated population growth, which the state demographer’s office says was 1.7 percent in 2016.
Nationwide, traffic deaths began to rise sharply in 2015 after five decades of decline, but they remain far below historical highs, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The NHTSA blamed the increase on job growth and low fuel prices.
A month into the new year, Colorado’s roadway death toll continues to mount.
Since Jan. 1, according to the Colorado State Patrol, 20 people have been killed on Colorado’s roads — including six in Denver. They include a young Aurora man who was struck by a pickup truck Jan. 8 near the Mount Princeton Hot Springs in Chaffee County and a 9-year-old girl who authorities say was hit by a vehicle driven by a Colorado Springs man on probation for driving under the influence.
Five Bennett High School students who cut class Jan. 24 were involved in a wreck that left two of them dead and three seriously injured.
Conditions change in an instant. Be ready and pay attention. pic.twitter.com/vBI8ssW1Rw
— Colorado State Patrol (@CSP_News) January 25, 2017
“The toughest thing I have done in this job is having to tell these people that one of their loved ones has been killed in an accident,” Lakewood police Detective Ty Countryman said. “I’ve been with Lakewood for 25 years and in traffic for 20 years of that. I’ve seen the firsthand results of being a first responder and being the first one on scene of a fatality. And having to talk with the families of the deceased people. It takes a toll on everyone.”
He added: “Some of those fatals are the messiest things that an officer will see.”
Cole says investigators have pinpointed the state’s limited seat belt use — an estimated 84 percent do — as being a major factor in the rise in deaths. About half of all those killed in crashes last year were not restrained. “They are way over-represented in this fatality data.”
Motorcycle fatalities also are up, about 50 percent in the past few years, Cole said. “One easy thing motorcyclists can do to help reduce that number is wear their helmets and safety gear.”
The state’s top transportation and traffic law enforcement officials are expected to speak further about the spike at a news conference Tuesday, including discussing trends they are seeing specific to urban and rural areas.
Adams County’s roads were the deadliest in 2016, CDOT data shows, accounting for the deaths of 60 people in 58 crashes. The next highest was Weld County, where 57 people died last year in collisions, followed by Denver — which had 54 roadway fatalities — and El Paso and Jefferson counties, which each saw 48 deaths on their roads.
Using Denver police data, the state’s largest city and county had the highest number of fatalities at 61. Denver officials say their internal data can differ from what’s reported to the state.
There were 276 deaths on roads in Colorado’s cities, CDOT reported. Colorado Springs and Aurora came in second, each reporting 31 fatalities.
“I’m recording a higher number,” said Sgt. Mike Farr, of the Denver Police Department’s traffic investigations unit. “We’ve started seeing a trend back up from the early 2000s.”
Farr said he is most concerned about an increase in aggressive driving and street racing in the city. Police are also trying to stop the increase in auto-pedestrian fatalities through targeted enforcement and education, including a “Heads Up” campaign urging people to keep their eyes on traffic while walking around.
Pedestrian roadway deaths in Colorado jumped about 31 percent to 84 last year, compared with 64 in 2015
“We all play a part in everyone’s safety in getting where we are going without a collision, without injuries and making sure everyone gets through the transportation system safely,” Farr said. “We definitely are humans sometimes we aren’t doing everything we reasonably can to get there safely.”
CDOT says it uses geographical information about fatal crashes to pinpoint where it spends its dollars and directs enforcement. Only eight of Colorado’s 64 counties — Baca, Bent, Cheyenne, Conejos, Crowley, Hinsdale, Phillips and Sedgwick — reported no roadway fatalities in 2016. All are in rural areas.
Last year 196 people were killed in crashes in which drugs or alcohol were a factor. That includes a Denver Post reporter struck by a driver who pleaded guilty to driving under the influence. Alcohol or drugs also were suspected as a factor in a rollover crash that killed three teenagers near Conifer in May. The group was on a post-graduation trip.
The Colorado State Patrol has been using social media to try to prevent traffic fatalities, regularly posting images of their chief — Col. Scott Hernandez — holding a counter with a running tally of roadway deaths.
“It didn’t have to be this many,” the agency said in a post about the 2016 death tally. “It never has to be close to this again. … Don’t be a number on our counter this year.”
In 2015, state officials made a pledge to achieve a year with zero traffic deaths — a feat authorities say is still a realistic goal.
“What other goal could there be?” Cole said. “We are hoping this is just a spike and that we will continue to see fatalities fall like they have in the past 20 years.”
