Michigan State Police urge defensive driving amidst increased fatalities
(CBS DETROIT) - After a deadly, fiery crash involving a driver slamming into a SMART bus, Michigan State Police is urging drivers to use extra caution while traveling.
"Right now, we're at a point that we have 19 more fatalities right now than we did at the same time last year and 22 more serious injuries, so that tells us something is going on on our roadways, right? said Lt. Mike Shaw, with the Michigan State Police.
Lt. Shaw said crashes, especially fatal crashes can usually be avoided.
"Every traffic crash that we have in Michigan is preventable, we know that something happened between the parties involved that made a poor decision while driving," Lt. Shaw said.
One man's poor decision cost him his life on Southfield Freeway near 8 Mile Road.
According to Lt. Shaw, the driver was racing another vehicle and traveling at a high rate of speed when he crashed into a SMART bus. His vehicle caught fire and he died.
"We're just seeing people drive too fast, the crash that we had yesterday was possibly two people that were racing, you know, poor decisions that we're seeing out there, so if we can get people to reign in some of those poor driving decisions, we know those numbers will go down as well," Lt. Shaw said.
Meanwhile, police are urging motorists to drive defensively in order to stay safe as possible.