After 3 deadly crashes on Centre County road, officials look to encourage safe driving
Pennsylvania’s highway agency took two steps Tuesday aimed at curbing aggressive driving along a road in Centre County that saw four people killed and three others injured in three April crashes.
The state Department of Transportation placed two radar-controlled speed display boards on state Route 64 in Walker Township. One faces northbound traffic between Heartwood Street and Marie Lane; the other faces southbound traffic between Crust and Snydertown roads.
The speed limit on that two-lane stretch of Nittany Valley Drive is 55 mph. The boards are expected to remain in place for about a month, PennDOT wrote in a statement.
Speeding was a factor in one of the three deadly crashes that happened less 10 miles from one another. All four people killed were either not wearing or were improperly wearing seat belts, state police at Rockview wrote in separate crash reports.
More than one-third of the 130 fatal crashes between 2011 and 2020 in Centre County involved someone who was not wearing a seat belt, according to PennDOT data.
“In the event of a crash, when you don’t wear your seat belt, you drastically increase your chances of being injured,” state police public information officer Christopher Fox said Wednesday.
Seat belts reduce the risk of fatal injuries to front seat occupants of passenger cars by 45%. That rate increases to 60% for those in light trucks, according to PennDOT data. The amount of occupants who use seat belts in Centre County has sat at about 90% since 2015.
Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety gave Pennsylvania a middling grade for its highway safety laws. A 59-page report released in January called for stronger legislation on seat belt enforcement, among others.
State law requires adults who are in either of the two front seats to wear a seat belt. Adult passengers in the rear seats do not have to wear a seat belt.
Police in Pennsylvania cannot stop a vehicle and hand out a citation because an occupant is not wearing a seat belt. The violation is viewed as a secondary offense, meaning police can only enforce the law if the driver violated another law.
Pennsylvania is one of 16 states that stop police from enforcing front seat belt laws as a primary violation, and one of 30 that stop police from enforcing rear seat belt laws.
The nonprofit safety group has “consistently” urged states to enact primary enforcement seat belt laws, whether people are sitting in the front or rear seats, President Cathy Chase said in a written statement.
“We urge members of the Pennsylvania Legislature to prioritize legislation to upgrade the state’s seat belt law to primary enforcement and require use by all occupants,” Chase said. “Doing so will help to improve seat belt use and save lives.”