State Police at Butler Release 2011's Fatal Crash Figures

Figures that the Pennsylvania State Police at Butler recently released show an increase in drug and alcohol-related fatal crashes that troopers investigated in 2011. 

“We had a lot of alcohol-related DUI crashes this year,” said Lt. Stave Ignatz, operations section commander at the Butler barracks. “There were no drug-related DUI crashes last year, so that’s on the uptick.

Troopers investigated 41 crashes in which 46 people were killed in 2011 in Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Lawrence and Mercer counties.

Twenty-two of the drivers were under the influence of alcohol, drugs or a combination of both. Twenty-five people died in those crashes, police said.

Police said 15 alcohol-related crashes led to 17 deaths. In one fatal crash, the driver was using an illegal drug. In another crash, the driver had used drugs and alcohol. In two other crashes, drivers were under the influence of prescribed medications.

There were three crashes that involved the use of unknown intoxicants and that resulted in four people dying, police said.

While there was a difference of one in the total number of fatal crashes across the region from 2010 to 2011, Ignatz said there was a downswing in the number of accidents in Butler County. 

Ignatz said there was nine fatal crashes in 2011 in Butler County. In the year prior to that, there were 16 fatal crashes. There also were fewer accidents in Armstrong County, although Ignatz said there was an increase in fatal crashes in Lawrence and Beaver counties.

The lieutenant said the decrease in fatal accidents in Butler County was significant. He attributed part of that to increased patrols in crash-prone areas— and some luck.

“A lot of it we just attribute to serendipity,” he said.

In a majority of the fatal accidents, Ignatz said the drivers or occupants weren’t wearing seatbelts.

“I’m not saying that would have saved all of them, but the result of wearing seatbelts is clear,” he said. “They do save lives.”

He noted it’s difficult to enforce seatbelt laws because not wearing one only is a secondary violation. This means a trooper must observe another violation to be able to cite motorists for not wearing a seatbelt. The penalty for not wearing a seatbelt is a $10 fine plus processing costs, Ignatz said. 

“It’s not a new law,” he said of seatbelt requirements. “It’s been in effect for a lot of years. We still see a lot of people not wearing their seatbelts.”