By Rachel Sawicki

DOVER — From the beginning of the year until March 8, the number of fatal collisions on roads in Delaware totals 29, nearly twice the amount of the same time frame in 2021, which was 15, authorities report.

Nationwide, and in Delaware, deaths on the road are soaring to record levels, and medical professionals, police and highway safety officials suspect the pandemic is a large factor.

In total, the 139 fatalities recorded in 2021 mark the highest number of deaths on Delaware roads in 15 years. This included the highest number of motorcycle fatalities in over 40 years with 24, compared to 14 in 2020. Additionally, pedestrian fatalities increased to 29 from 24 in 2020.

Representatives of the state Office of Highway Safety, Delaware State Police, the Delaware Department of Transportation and Bayhealth came together Wednesday at DSP headquarters in Dover to address these growing numbers and raise awareness for safety on the road.

Nathaniel McQueen Jr., Delaware’s secretary of safety and homeland security, said that driving is one of the most dangerous things people do.

“Everyone has a role to play in ensuring that everyone has equal access to safe roadways,” he said. “Slow down, wear your seat belts, drive sober and avoid distractions behind the wheel. ... We can become complacent in the severe hazards around us, like impaired, aggressive, distracted and drowsy drivers. Please make sure that you are not one of them.”

Secretary of Transportation Nicole Majeski said her agency invests hundreds of millions of dollars every year to make streets safer, but there is only so much that engineering can do.

“One fatality on our roadways is too many. Whether it’s engineering, enforcement or education, this is on all of us,” she said. “All of us have to play a part to make this happen. We must all do our part to protect not only ourselves but each other and to prevent these tragedies from continuing to happen.”

To work toward the partner agencies’ goal of zero fatalities, OHS is launching a speed-awareness campaign Saturday. The office is integrating a variety of outlets for reaching and motivating target audiences, including digital advertising, social media, public relations and grassroots outreach. The campaign will run through March 27.

Additionally, OHS is working with state and local law enforcement during the initiative to reduce the number of crashes and fatalities on Delaware streets.

Kim Chesser, director of OHS, noted several tips to protect drivers and pedestrians, such as making themselves visible with reflective gear, especially at night, and planning ahead to avoid impaired and drowsy driving.

“Because of the high number of crashes and fatalities that we’ve had this year and last year, we’ve added a speed-enforcement mobilization,” she said. “Our traffic-safety partners that are here today have stepped up, and we’ll be conducting that enforcement from March 19 to March 27, and we also have ongoing DUI enforcement, which is occurring March 11 to 19.

“April is also National Distracted Driving Awareness Month, so during that time, we will have extra patrols focused on distracted driving.”

Mr. McQueen said getting the message across to younger drivers is especially important, since teens 19 and younger make up 30% of fatalities.

“In the schools, with the kids, getting that message to them on a personal level, right when they’re in driver’s education trying to learn how to drive, that’s the most important time to reach them,” he said. “As we’ve seen year after year, unfortunately, we have a tragedy that sometimes happens in Delaware about every year around prom time and impacts some school district or some school.”

To that end, DSP Superintendent Col. Melissa Zebley said school resource officers will be taking steps to spread that message to young drivers.

“It’s not exclusively for the safety of students in the school. It’s engaging students about driver-safety imperatives and what we’re seeing day in and day out on the roadways,” she said. “Oftentimes, it’s that youthful driver. We try to meet the moment between maturity and mortality.”

She noted another campaign beginning the weekend of April 8: the I-95 Drive to Save Lives. Every state police agency on the I-95 corridor from Florida to Maine will partner to spread messages that will hopefully curb dangerous speeds.

“Delaware State Police and all of our law enforcement partners do not merely count the number of crashes, as we consider the impact of those families (and) friends in the community of loved ones,” she said. “While we struggle to fully answer the question of a family’s ‘why,’ what I can assure you is that our early-driving behavior, our individual vigilance and our thoughts about those around us on the roadways can save lives and can protect our own.”

Also joining the road-safety officials was Dr. Edward Alexander, associate trauma medical director for Bayhealth. He suggested that the pandemic has a part to play in the soaring fatalities.

“Isolation, more time for drugs, more time for drinking — it’s a COVID effect,” he said. “It happens all the time. They’re usually intoxicated, they’re scared, and if they’re banged up enough, it’s not an issue at all (to get the message across.) Every few months, there is a reminder, like some kid runs off the road, and his face goes through the windshield. Scary, ugly stuff.”

He also said that some logical infrastructure improvements are widening roads and adding a barrier between the north and southbound lanes of Del. 1. However, additional funding and resources for law enforcement are at the top of his wish list for improving highway safety.

“There’s nothing to slow traffic down more than a nice state trooper cruising down the highway,” he said.