Gov. Chris Sununu has had enough.
At the governor’s direction, if you get pulled over for a driving violation on Interstate 95, you’ll be getting a ticket now until the end of the holiday season.
One of the deadliest years ever on New Hampshire roadways reached a milestone this weekend with the 127th traffic death of the year, tying the total for all of 2023. With just 34 days left in the year, state safety officials have gone to a no-tolerance policy for reckless driving and speeding.
“If you’re pulled over on I-95, you’re getting a ticket, that’s it. For whatever it might be,” Sununu said during a press conference Tuesday with state police officers from New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts and Connecticut, as well as the New Hampshire Association of Chiefs of Police.
The increase in deadly crashes includes a 233% jump in drivers younger than 21 dying behind the wheel. And this past Sunday, four people died in two separate crashes in Salem and Nashua.
“This is a really important story. This isn’t sensational. People have been dying over the past few weeks at really alarming numbers,” said the governor, who is leaving office after his fourth term at the end of the year.
Thanksgiving is one of the deadliest holidays in the U.S., officials said. From 2018 to 2022, there were nearly 500 people killed nationwide in crashes on Thanksgiving alone, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Dangerous holiday
In New Hampshire, five people have died and nine have been injured in nearly 2,200 crashes during the holiday week in the last five years, said Tyler Dumont, spokesman for the Department of Safety.
“Thanksgiving Eve, which has become commonly known as Drinksgiving and Blackout Wednesday, is historically a dangerous and deadly day on the roads nationwide,” Dumont said.
Sununu said cracking down on aggressive, distracted and impaired driving is “hugely important” and it comes down to individual responsibility to quell the “heartbreaking” spate of crashes.
“Every person who was killed on our roads, they have loved ones at home that are traumatized by that loss — mothers, fathers, daughters, grandparents,” Sununu said. “New Hampshire has seen tragic results on our roads where road conditions have actually not changed, but driver behavior has.”
He hopes this will be a wake-up call for motorists, something State Police Lt. Chris Storm echoed.
“The truth is in the numbers,” Storm said. “Residents and visitors are losing their lives in all parts of our state. There’s no single cause. There’s no single day. There’s no particular age. Our work is an exhaustive challenge.”
To meet that challenge, State Police will increase patrols statewide around the clock and be highly visible during the holidays, Storm said.
“Innocent victims are frustrated. Our troopers are frustrated, and a majority of our drivers who use our roadways safely every day are frustrated with what is happening,” Storm said.
Last Wednesday, troopers conducted a saturation patrol on Interstate 95 and stopped more than 200 cars.
“Lifelong repercussions’
Just hours later, a multivehicle crash resulted in serious injuries in the exact same location, he said.
Storm said most traffic fatalities can be prevented if drivers take responsibility, slow down, pay attention and drive with respect for others.
“Just a moment of carelessness can have lifelong repercussions for everybody involved. It could cost you a few hundred dollars, an arrest on your record, thousands of dollars in fines and lawyer fees, and at worst, it could cost you or others their lives,” Storm said.
Atkinson Police Chief Timothy J. Crowley invoked a safety slogan from decades ago: “A little courtesy won’t kill you.” He urged drivers to be patient and not assume other drivers will follow the rules of the road.
Maine State Police Specialist Seth Allen said it isn’t just New Hampshire that’s experiencing a rise in deadly driving. There have been 27,930 crashes on Maine roads this year and 157 traffic deaths, up from 133 at this time last year.
Team effort
Officers from Connecticut and Massachusetts said they will also be increasing patrols and citing drivers for infractions, including seat belt violations in the Bay State.
Sununu said New England is small geographically but so densely populated that it requires a team effort from surrounding states.
“There are folks that will cross three or four different borders, maybe twice a day just on Thanksgiving,” Sununu said.
Storm said between 50 and 100 additional patrols will be utilized from now until the end of the year.
“Slow down. Put your phone down. Please don’t drive impaired,” Storm said. “If you see a dangerous driver, call 911 and report it. You could be saving lives.”
