MHP shares safety statistics with Civitans

By By Steve Gillespie / staff writer
October 20, 2004
Sgt. Ronnie Carter of the Mississippi Highway Patrol spoke to members of the Meridian Civitan Club on Tuesday.
Carter said that, as of July 30, the Mississippi Highway Patrol has patrolled about 1 million miles, investigated more than 1,000 automobile crashes, made more than 360 DUI arrests, and issued more than 20,000 citations in the nine counties that make up Troop H.
Those counties are: Lauderdale, Kemper, Clarke, Neshoba, Newton, Jasper, Leake, Scott and Smith.
Carter said the MHP's Troop H responded to 45 fatal crashes on state and federal highways through the end of July. In those 45 crashes, 62 people were killed; 23 were under the age of 18.
Carter said three factors are most commonly involved in fatal automobile crashes: driving too fast, not wearing seat belts, and driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
On average, Carter said Mississippi has about 850-950 traffic deaths each year. He also said of the 40,000 people killed nationwide in car crashes each year, about 17,000 of them are caused by some type of alcohol or drug influence.