Ninety-nine speeding tickets were issued during stepped-up law enforcement patrols focused on apprehending speeders between July 15 and Aug. 7, the Washington Traffic Safety Commission said.
During the patrols in Clallam County, 76 speeding tickets were written in addition to six misdemeanor arrests, one negligent driving citation, two seat belt tickets and a fugitive apprehension, as well as four uninsured motorist and eight suspended/revoked license violations.
In Jefferson County, 23 speeding tickets were written, in addition to two aggressive driving and one reckless driving citations and two seat belt tickets, as well as four uninsured motorist and five suspended/revoked license violations.
Participating in these extra patrols in Clallam County were the Port Angeles and Sequim police departments and the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office.
In Jefferson County, the Port Townsend Police Department and the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office participated in the patrols
The Clallam County DUI Traffic Safety Task Force and the Jefferson County Traffic Safety Task Force supported the extra patrols, funded by a grant from the Washington Traffic Safety Commission.
Commission posts quiz
While extra law enforcement patrols looked for speeders during a recent three-week period, the Washington Traffic Safety Commission conducted a speeding quiz online at www.wtsc.wa.gov.
Of the eight multiple-choice questions asked, the majority of respondents answered six of the questions correctly, the Traffic Safety Commission said. The ninth question was open-ended.
The agency did not say how many people responded.
Here are the results:
■ About 20 percent of all traffic fatalities involve speeding drivers.
Answer: False. More than 40 percent involve a speeder, according to Target Zero: Washington State’s Strategic Highway Safety Plan 2010.
Results: 56.2 percent, true; 43.8 percent, false.
■ Most of Washington’s traffic deaths occur on freeways.
Answer: False. Most of the state’s fatal and serious-injury crashes occur on rural roads, which are often unlighted and undivided, according to Target Zero.
Results: 70.7 percent, false; 29.3 percent, true.
■ Children and the elderly are most likely to die in crashes due to speeding.
Answer: False. More than 40 percent of people who died in crashes caused by speeders were young people ages 16-25, according to data on fatal crashes in Washington state provided by the Fatality Analysis Reporting System — or FARS — of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Results: 59.6 percent, true; 40.4 percent, false.
■ Most miles are driven Monday through Friday. When do most serious injury and fatal speeding crashes occur?
Answer: Weekends. Nearly half of all serious-injury and fatal speeding crashes occurred between 6 p.m. Friday and 6 a.m. Monday, according to FARS and the traffic safety commission.
Results: 73.9 percent, weekends; 26.1 percent, weekdays.
■ A speeding ticket can cost as much as $411.
Answer: True. The average speeding ticket in Washington is about $156, but as speed increases, so does the fine. In fact, a speeding ticket could cost more than $411, the traffic safety commission said.
Results: 94.5 percent, true; 5.5 percent, false.
■ If the posted speed limit is 60 mph, and you are speeding at 75 mph, how much time will you save on a 20-mile trip?
Answer: Four minutes.
The traffic safety commission said a driver ticketed for traveling 75 mph in a 60 mph zone will pay $156.
“Those minutes you thought you were saving will now cost you $39 each. And an average traffic stop takes 10 to 15 minutes, so now you’ve actually lost time,” the agency said.
Results: 83.8 percent, four minutes; 9.3 percent, eight minutes; and 6.0 percent, 15 minutes.
■ Driving at 30 mph on dry pavement requires a stopping distance of 41 yards, or nearly half of a football field. How far is the stopping distance traveling at 60 mph?
Answer: 120 yards. Doubling the speed actually triples the stopping distance. On wet pavement, stopping takes longer, according to Lawrence D. Woolf, author of Staying Alive: The Physics, Mathematics and Engineering of Safe Driving.
Results: 62.9 percent, 120 yards; 31.8 percent, 82 yards; and 5.3 percent, 60 yards.
■ Are males or females more likely to die as a result of speeding-related crashes?
Answer: Males. Men accounted for 79 percent of all traffic deaths caused by speeders, according to FARS.
Results: 81.5 percent, men; 18.5 percent, women.
■ How many fatal speeding crashes are predicted to occur in Washington in the year 2030?
Answer: Target Zero: Washington State’s Strategic Highway Safety Plan 2010 predicts, of course, zero fatal speeding crashes.
Eight percent gave that answer while 92 percent responded otherwise.
