Colorado sheriff urging safe driving ahead of the deadliest day of the year for pedestrians
Many Douglas County residents are expressing frustration over a high number of traffic accidents recently and say they frequently encounter reckless drivers.
The observation is backed up by the Douglas County Sheriff's Office, which has seen a 10% increase in accidents this year. Luckily, the amount of those crashes that are fatal is decreasing. For every serious crash in Douglas County, the sheriff's office's reconstruction team works to piece together exactly what went wrong.
"All of the evidence that's left out at the scene, whether it's the vehicle itself or debris that's left in the roadway, they're able to reconstruct that crash," said Douglas County Sheriff Darren Weekly.
RELATED: Jefferson, Douglas, Boulder counties rank in top 5 in state for deadly crashes
In many deadly crashes, investigators pinpoint driver impairment as the cause. DUI arrests are up this year by 27%, Weekly said.
The sheriff attributes other crashes to distracted driving and a growing population.
"We've seen an increase of about 2% per year in our population and whenever you have that many people, you're gonna have an increase in crime and an increase in crashes," said Weekly.
Ahead of Halloween, the deadliest day of the year for pedestrians, Weekly doesn't want the trend to continue.
RELATED: Colorado family of teen killed in Halloween crash urges safe driving
"We will be looking for impaired drivers and will have extra district cars in the neighborhoods just to make sure people are being safe, people are slowing down for the kids," said Weekly.
The department will have increased traffic enforcement this weekend and Tuesday night. Weekly reminds drivers on Halloween to be ready for kids to dart out in the road. He reminds parents to trick or treat with young children and says the more visible their costume is, the better.
To get the accident numbers down, Weekly wants Douglas County drivers to put down their phone and not get behind the wheel if impaired.
"With the availability of rideshare and everything else, there's just no reason to be out there impaired," said Weekly.
