Crashes in Idaho on rise, 250 Idahoans killed in 2021

Published by admin on Fri, 01/07/2022 - 5:23pm
by Philip A. Janquart
 It didn’t take long, after about four inches of snow fell in the Treasure Valley overnight on Wednesday, Dec. 29, before the calls started coming in.
 At around 6 a.m. Washington County Sheriff’s deputies and emergency crews responded to a rollover on Highway 95, south of Weiser near Owen Road.
 The driver of a 2000s Chevy Suburban apparently lost control on the ice, rolled, and came to rest in a farmer’s field. 
 No injuries were reported.
    More snow fell during the night on Jan. 4, this time between one to two inches.
 It is a reminder that roads can be treacherous in the winter and extra caution can save drivers a lot of time, trouble, injuries, and even death.
 “Yes, we’ve had some crashes and slideoffs,” Washington County Sheriff Matt Thomas told the Weiser Signal American last week. “There are a lot of factors to those crashes, but you have your first snow and people realize that they have to slow down on this stuff. You should always be paying attention to the road, not talking on your cell phone and things like that, but especially when you have slick roads and winter driving conditions.”
 Thomas also affirmed that having four-wheel drive vehicles can sometimes serve as a false sense of security.
 “You can go faster, but it’s not going to stop you faster, and even if you have four-wheel drive, you can still lose control if you are driving too fast on ice,” he said.
 The driver involved in the Dec. 29 rollover stated on a local Facebook page that he was only driving about 30 mph when his truck started to slide. He found himself heading into oncoming traffic but managed to get his vehicle, which does not have four-wheel drive, out of harm’s way.
It is a testament to the fact that accidents can occur in bad weather even when being cautious.
 Increased traffic plays a role in the number of crashes that occur from year to year. 
 Highway 95 has recently experienced a significant uptick in traffic due to recent construction work on Highway 55 north of Smiths Ferry that, at times, closed the roadway down completely. Traffic heading from Boise to McCall was forced to use 95 as a detour.
The project, which is scheduled for completion in late 2022, is on hold through winter and all lanes have been reopened.
 Most recently, however, the highway was closed again following a Nov. 18 rockslide that sent more than 50,000 cubic yards of large boulders and dirt onto Highway 55 north of Smiths Ferry. The roadway closed for about two weeks while construction crews removed the debris and built a 20-foot tall, 400-foot long rock wall to stabilize the area.
 The interim road reopened Dec. 6. More work on the slide area will be done this spring.
Jillian Garrigues stated in a Dec. 5 ITD blog post that, “US-95 remains a viable alternate route for travel between Valley County and the Treasure Valley.”
 Thomas said that reopening Highway 55 probably relieved some pressure on 95 but does not anticipate traffic patterns to change much in the future.
 “With more people coming to Idaho we expect there to be more traffic,” he said.
 Fatality crashes in Idaho are on the rise according to the Idaho Transportation Department, with more than 250 Idahoans losing their lives in crashes in 2021, the most since 2006. 
 “Thankfully, it’s not all doom and gloom,” said AAA Idaho Public and Government Affairs Director Matthew Conde. “Most drivers make great decisions every day. They travel at appropriate speeds and maintain a safe following distance. They don’t drive aggressively, and they don’t react to those who do. And the vast majority always wear their seat belt.
 “As a reminder, please slow down and, if possible, move over one lane if you approach a police or fire vehicle, incident response truck, or tow truck operating at the side of the road.  Our emergency workers are everyday heroes, and they often work just a few feet away from busy traffic. Let’s slow down and give them plenty of room to safely do their job.”
 

 

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