DARLINGTON - Police provided 201 safe rides home for revelers at the two-day Darlington Canoe Festival earlier this month, according to a new release from Chief Jason King.
The purpose of the rides, funded through outside grants, is to cut down on drunk driving crashes in a county where such tragedies happen more frequently than elsewhere in the state.
"Lafayette County's alcohol-related traffic crash rate is much higher than the state average, injuring someone every 25 days and killing someone every 3.75 months," King said.
This is the third year the police department has provided the Safe Rides program to festival-goers. The program is funded with money from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Between 2007 and 2011, 59 percent of all traffic fatalities in Lafayette County were alcohol-related. This compares to a statewide average of only 43 percent during the same time period. From 2007 to 2011 across the county, there were 91 alcohol-related crashes, 16 people killed and 74 people injured.
King puts these numbers in perspective.
"Those 16 people killed represent roughly 0.1 percent of Lafayette County's total population. If 0.1 percent of Wisconsin's population were killed in alcohol-related crashes during the same time period, it would mean roughly 5,711 people would have died. The actual number killed in Wisconsin alcohol-related crashes during the same time period was 1,255," he said.
During the Canoe Fest this year, on June 7 and 8, police made no arrests for driving while intoxicated and were called to no traffic crashes involving alcohol.
Darlington police will again be offering the Safe Rides program during the Lafayette County Fair in July.
The purpose of the rides, funded through outside grants, is to cut down on drunk driving crashes in a county where such tragedies happen more frequently than elsewhere in the state.
"Lafayette County's alcohol-related traffic crash rate is much higher than the state average, injuring someone every 25 days and killing someone every 3.75 months," King said.
This is the third year the police department has provided the Safe Rides program to festival-goers. The program is funded with money from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Between 2007 and 2011, 59 percent of all traffic fatalities in Lafayette County were alcohol-related. This compares to a statewide average of only 43 percent during the same time period. From 2007 to 2011 across the county, there were 91 alcohol-related crashes, 16 people killed and 74 people injured.
King puts these numbers in perspective.
"Those 16 people killed represent roughly 0.1 percent of Lafayette County's total population. If 0.1 percent of Wisconsin's population were killed in alcohol-related crashes during the same time period, it would mean roughly 5,711 people would have died. The actual number killed in Wisconsin alcohol-related crashes during the same time period was 1,255," he said.
During the Canoe Fest this year, on June 7 and 8, police made no arrests for driving while intoxicated and were called to no traffic crashes involving alcohol.
Darlington police will again be offering the Safe Rides program during the Lafayette County Fair in July.