A look at national traffic death figures shows fatalities have dropped to record lows during the first half of 2009, but that’s not the case in Cherokee County.

The Associated Press reported recently that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration had a 7 percent decline between January and June, compared with the first six months of 2008. Sluggish economic factors led to cutbacks on discretionary travel in the early parts of the 1980s and 1990s. The AP report states highway deaths have dropped steadily since 2005.

Oklahoma Highway Patrol Capt. Mike Harrell said fatality collisions have remained constant for the periods of January through September of 2008 and this year. Six fatal crashes have occurred in each of the nine-month periods. But, there were seven deaths in those six 2008 crashes, and there have been nine in the six crashes this year.

Cherokee County has experienced a number of fatality crashes in recent years where drunken driving was a contributing factor.

Harrell, the Troop C commander for the OHP, said there were two such crashes in 2008, and none for the first nine months of 2009.

Harrell said OHP Lt. Billy Golden, who supervises OHP troopers working Cherokee County, has instituted a very aggressive DUI enforcement program in Cherokee County. The number of DUI arrests have jumped from 98 in the first nine months of 2008, compared to 177 for the same period this year.

Seven driving while impaired arrests occurred in the 2008 time period, compared with 10 this year. There was one actual physical control of a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol arrest in January-September 2008, and six this year.

A person has to have a blood or breath alcohol level of .08 or more to be DUI in Oklahoma. “Lt. Golden believes strongly in emphasizing enforcement efforts in this area to reduce their inherent impact on the community,” Harrell said. “We have tried to increase our manpower in the Cherokee/Adair County detachments and Lt. Golden is always searching for additional ways to slow the trend of DUI-related collisions.”

National experts have said seat belt usage is at an all-time high and they believe that is a factor in the reduction of traffic deaths.

The federal government recently pledged to push for tougher laws against distracted driving and drivers who type out text messages from behind the wheel, according to the AP.

Anne McCartt, vice president for research with the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, told the AP the safety advances and more attention to unsafe driving could keep the numbers low when the economy improves.

In addition to OHP efforts, Tahlequah police and the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office also work on DUI and seat belt enforcement through overtime grants where the officers can work strictly on traffic enforcement.