Page 24 - Flathead Beacon // 6.4.14

24 | JUNE 4, 2014
NEWS
FLATHEADBEACON.COM

ROADS
ri nd
and Highway Patrol have supported a Montessodla
Continued from page 5
primary seat belt law and have spoken in tion is oo
favor of it during previous sessions. The EducaW
Legislature has shot down the proposal hands-on
ri
year, there have been 2,310 people who each time.
sso
have died in vehicle crashes on Montana Earlier this year, a national nonprof- self-paced nte
roads in the last decade, according to the it group called Advocates for Highway mo
Montana Department of Transporta- and Auto Safety gave the state of Mon- collaborative
ing
tion.
tana a failing grade in its annual report challengool
In the Kalispell region, encompass- on highway safety laws. The group criti- d joyful sch
ing Flathead, Lake and Lincoln counties, cized Montana for not having a front and an
there have been 67 deaths in just the last rear primary seat belt law, all-rider mo- learning.
two years.
torcycle helmet law, booster seat law, an
755-3824 MDT has identiied all major high- ignition interlock law and an all-driver
ways winding throughout the Flathead text messaging restriction.
www.mtmont.com
Valley as among the highest crash-sever- Tooley said other states have seen a
ity corridors in the state, including the 10 percent increase in compliance rates Member School
Montessori school AccreditAtion council Accredited
16-mile stretch of U.S. 2 from Colum- after a primary seat belt law went into
Not all Montessori schools are the same. Accreditation afirms bia Falls to West Glacier, which had 426 efect. Montana currently has a 77.5 per-
that a school meets a standard of excellence recognized by crashes and 52 deaths between 2007-11.
cent compliance rate.
educators and Montessorians world-wide.
Tragedies on Montana’s roads are “If you drove that up to 90 percent,
nothing new. Between 1965 and 1974, you would make a major diference in
School for the
there were 3,166 fatalities. Between 1975 how many people are dying,” Tooley

Early Childhood Years
and 1984, there were 2,957.
said.
But Mike Tooley, director of MDT, He said cities are taking the lead on
preschool-kindergarten wants to change the perception that enacting laws that prohibit cell-phone
deadly roads are simply unavoidable in a use while driving, and he supports those
(ages 2-6)
vast, rural state like Montana.
eforts, although he doesn’t anticipate a
“That point of view has been very statewide law will draw enough support
Summer Program frustrating to me, that ‘This is just part to pass the Legislature.

available
of living in Montana,’” Tooley said. “If “We’ll support those eforts, al-
you back out of that way of thinking and though I sense they won’t pass. But we
focus on your family, what’s the num- will support them because it’s the right Now
ber of acceptable traic fatalities within thing to do and would make a big difer-
your family? What number would be ac- ence,” he said.
ENrolliNg
ceptable? There’s not a number that is The Vision Zero information cam-
acceptable. We need to be steering to- paign will also focus on 18- to 25-year-
ward zero.”
olds, the age group with the highest fa- for 2014-15

At an event in Missoula in early May, tality crash rate.
Tooley announced the state’s broad new Alcohol-related crashes – an age-old
initiative called “Vision Zero” aimed problem in Montana – have decreased
at reducing deaths and injuries on each year since 2009, but drugged driv-
the roads. Tooley unveiled the multi- ing, involving motorists using prescrip-
pronged approach with a presentation of tion medications or recreational drugs,
a metal sculpture made out of mangled has become a problem, Tooley said.
vehicles that were involved in wrecks.
The state’s Highway Patrol has

The message was simple yet stark.
ramped up training and resources for
“One life lost to a crash is one too oicers who might encounter drugged
many,” Tooley said.
drivers, and those eforts will be ex-
MDT has established four empha- panded even further, Tooley said.
sizes within Vision Zero that are being Montana has more public road miles
bolstered: education, enforcement, en- than there are interstate miles in the en-
gineering and emergency medical re- tire country, but many of those stretches

sponse.
of pavement are old or overused. Part
A new public information campaign of Vision Zero will be to identify the
will focus on the busiest and deadliest sections that are priorities for mainte-
travel periods — May through October nance, Tooley said.
— when 61 percent of all roadway fatali- “That’s a concern. We have a lot of
ties have occurred in the last 10 years. needs we can’t get to, yet we have seen
Improved signage will be spread across increased traic in areas like Kalispell
the state, and state resources will ramp and Missoula,” he said. “We’ve got roads

up eforts with local law enforcement for that haven’t been improved since they
DUI task forces and increase safety pro- were constructed.”
grams.
Another element of Vision Zero is
One of the key messages will center directed toward emergency medical re-
on seat belts, which still remain neglect- sponse, and ensuring communities have
ed by many drivers. In the last decade, proper support for those vital resources.
1,293 people have died who were not Tooley said the reception of Vision

wearing a seat belt or wearing one im- Zero has been good so far. Even though Montana Cabinet
properly.
the likelihood of achieving the stated
Tooley said he would once again be moniker is unlikely, he remains devoted & Canoe
attending this winter’s Legislature to to its mission.
LLC
speak out in favor of a primary seat belt “People are excited for a vision that
law, which Montana lacks. Seat belts are actually says highway fatalities are not
required, but oicers cannot enforce the acceptable in our state and we’re going 125 Marken Lane, Bigfork, Montana • [email protected]
law unless they pull over a driver for an- to do our best to prevent every single one 406-837-4185 • www.montanacabinetandcanoe.com

other ofense, like speeding.
of them,” Tooley said.
Tooley and others within the MDT
[email protected]