The number of fatal crashes in Hamilton County last year was twice what it was in 2019 despite stay-at-home orders and a decrease in traffic. A total of 26 people died in 24 crashes in Hamilton County in 2020.
Greer
“People faced stressors last year like they wouldn’t normally face,” said Monica Greer, executive director of the Hamilton County Council on Alcohol and Other Drugs. “Job losses, food insecurity, and evictions. Unfortunately, we saw that play out on our roads in the form of drunk and drugged driving.”
According to a survey released by the RAND Corporation, American adults sharply increased their consumption of alcohol during the shutdown triggered by the pandemic. The results, published in the journal JAMA Network Open, found that the overall frequency of alcohol consumption increased by 19 percent among adults aged 30 to 59.
“The stay-at-home orders caused more people to drink at home and fewer sought a sober driver,” Greer added. “We’re also finding a lot of bars and restaurants making the false assumption that patrons are calling an Uber or Lyft. We all need to be more cognizant of those around us and help them find the support they need right now.”
According to the Criminal Justice Institute, 25 percent of all drivers involved in fatal collisions in Indiana are legally impaired.
Deputy Ryan McClain with the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office says empty roads also invite faster speeds, which in turn increases the chances of a fatal crash. He says fewer traffic stops in early Spring, when there was a great deal of uncertainty surrounding the virus, could also be to blame.
“We didn’t know what we were up against,” McClain explained. “Our deputies had to balance the safety of our citizens with the safety of their lives. As a result, law enforcement agencies made fewer traffic stops in the first few months of 2020, only pulling over drivers for egregious infractions.”
This weekend, the Hamilton County Traffic Safety Partnership (HCTSP) will set up a sobriety checkpoint in Hamilton County in an effort to curb drunk driving. St. Patrick’s Day weekend is traditionally one of the busiest nights for law enforcement agencies. Sobriety checkpoints allow police to briefly stop vehicles at specific, highly visible locations to see if the driver is impaired. Breath tests may be given if police have a reason to suspect the driver is intoxicated. It is illegal to drive with a blood alcohol content at or above 0.08 percent in Indiana.
About HCTSP
The HCTSP is comprised of the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Department, Fishers Police Department, Carmel Police Department, Noblesville Police Department, and Westfield Police Department, with the assistance of the Indiana State Police. Officers staffing the sobriety checkpoints work on an overtime basis paid by grant funds from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration through the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute.