News Story #1

After a year and a half, Washington state traffic programs make headway.
Washington state signed Target Zero into action early 2007, since then programs like X52 and Drive Hammered, Get Nailed were created with the same goal in mind. Washington state made fewer than 39,500 DUI arrests in 2008, roughly a 7% decline from 2003-2007 annual average of 42,611, according to the Washington State Traffic Commission.
“My experience with the programs has been completely positive. For the little amount of paper work, it’s a great thing for the community to make it that much safer,” said Washington State University police officer Matt T. Kuhrt, 30, in an interview Friday.
Programs like these gave the Washington State University Police Department $4,300 over the past year. Eighty two extra hours were devoted to DUI and speeding emphasis patrols at the WSUPD, according to the WSUPD.
“The wages are spent on officers working overtime. They are not to be spent on equipment. There are other grants and programs available,” Kuhrt said. Emphasis patrols are placed monthly and affect either DUIs, speeding or seatbelts. All are overtime patrols.
The traffic program X52 focuses on putting out extra patrols fifty two weeks out of the year focused on catching DUIs and speeding. Drive Hammered, Get Nailed focuses on drunk driving. Both programs rely on publicity and advertising of the program to scare people out of drunk driving or speeding, the Washington State Traffic Commission said.
“People will remember something about it and they might think twice, they are witty advertisements,” Kuhrt said.
“They’re not just interested in maximizing revenue by catching people. We know from public policy cases that the more tools you use the more effective a program is,” said Washington State University political science professor Steven D. Stehr.
The umbrella program, Target Zero, hopes to achieve zero traffic related fatalities or serious injuries by 2030, according to the WTSC.
“Just these campaigns will not reduce traffic fatalities; we need to take other steps. Stricter punishments are one goal we need to work more towards,” Kuhrt said.
Pullman is a college town, its population and demographic changes drastically from season to season. There is potential for drunk driving and speeding to affect Pullman differently.
“I could see both sides of the equation. A lot of residents live in walking distance of the bars, but it’s a normal thing to find more of a drinking culture in the confines of a college town,” said Stehr.
“It doesn’t really affect Pullman any differently, impaired driving affects places the same, it doesn’t affect any town differently,” Kuhrt said.
No one can see whether or not there will be unforeseen consequences from the campaigns.
There has been a decline in parents putting their children in booster seats. It turns out there was a misinterpretation of the Ticket or Click It campaign. Parents thought it was the law that their children needed to be belted down, when in fact they needed to be in a booster seat. We will have to see if there are any unintended consequences with these programs, said Stehr.
“I think these programs are effective, I wouldn’t be putting my time into doing this if I didn’t think it made a difference,” Kuhrt said.
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