APRIL 9, 2015
Statewide, 2014 saw the fewest traffic deaths in
Pennsylvania since record keeping began in 1928, the state Department of
Transportation said Wednesday.
A total of 1,195 people died in 1,107 crashes throughout
Pennsylvania in 2014 down from 1,562 in 1997. This is about 1 person dead per 10,000
residents or just about the national average death rate. There were 3,040 total major injuries, down
from 5,393 in 1997. This is about 2.4
persons injured per 10,000 residents.
In Lackawanna County, PennDOT recorded a total of 17 people
died in 15 crashes in 2014, which is about average, according to five years’
worth of local PennDOT data.
The analysis comes as PennDOT released a crash information
tool Wednesday that allows the public to sort through and analyze myriad police
crash report details at dotcrashinfo.pa.gov.
“PennDOT continuously strives to drive down crash and
fatality numbers, and we ultimately want to reach zero deaths on our roads,”
acting PennDOT Secretary Leslie S. Richards said in a statement.
PennDOT gives local police departments grants to
aggressively enforce traffic violations — like speeding, tailgating, running
red lights and stop signs.
“Those (actions) are more likely to result in traffic
accidents,” Scranton Police Chief Carl Graziano said.
As many as two to eight city officers are assigned to target
aggressive driving, Chief Graziano said.
“That’s done across the state and locally here, also,” Chief
Graziano said.
Scranton had six traffic deaths in 2014, the most in the
county. Dunmore ranked second with three.
Since 2010, Scranton has had the most fatal crashes in the
county, except for 2011, when there were none, and 2012, when there was one.
Eight out of the county’s 15 fatal crashes in 2014 were due
to aggressive driving, the PennDOT data show. Alcohol-related fatal crashes
accounted for one-third of the county’s 2014 fatal crashes — including the
crash that killed 12-year-old Leonard Zupon Jr. in Old Forge last August. The
Carbondale man who killed him, David Turano, was sentenced Wednesday to five to
12 years in state prison.