Legislature(2005 - 2006)BUTROVICH 205
02/09/2006 01:30 PM Senate TRANSPORTATION
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| SB261 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| *+ | SB 261 | TELECONFERENCED | |
SB 261-REGULATION OF HWYS; TRAFFIC OFFENSES
CHAIR CHARLIE HUGGINS announced SB 261 to be up for
consideration.
JEFF OTTESEN, Director, Division of Program Development,
Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (DOTPF),
explained that this bill was triggered by a spate of very high-
visibility accidents and some weather events. The idea was to
look for a way to keep numbers of accidents down. The tool they
found was to declare certain sections of road a safety corridor
and to double the fines in them.
SENATOR COWDERY asked if the department could place concrete
dividers on the highways so cars can't jump to the other side
and if federal funds would be available for such a project.
1:38:53 PM
SENATOR THERRIAULT joined the committee.
MR. OTTESEN replied that was a good suggestion, but most of the
highways are two lanes that are used by permitted wide loads
that need to have the extra width.
SENATOR FRENCH commented that the classic Seward Highway
accident is someone drifting into on-coming traffic and killing
folks his age.
MR. OTTESEN said other states have crafted language with
criteria that would be used to make the findings for safety
zones and he asked the chair to hold the bill so the department
could do further work on the matter. The department does a good
job of using safety data to prioritize and schedule projects and
national statistics show the predominant factor in traffic
accidents is generally the human factor.
CHAIR HUGGINS agreed and pointed out that at some point the
department would need money to implement their policies.
SENATOR THERRIAULT said that Virginia lawmakers set a maximum
dollar-specific fine at $500. They reasoned that a sign saying
"double fines" could be not as effective as a specified amount
since most people are unaware of what the double amount would
be.
MR. OTTESEN replied that was a good idea. He added that
Washington State actually posts the dollar amount of certain
fines on the sign.
SENATOR COWDERY said the legislature should make it tougher on
people who drive after losing their driver's license.
MR. OTTESEN agreed that DUI offenders often repeat-offend.
1:47:23 PM
CHAIR HUGGINS asked how safety issues are identified especially
with regards to the areas identified today that have safety
challenges.
KURT SMITH, State Traffic and Safety Engineer, Department of
Transportation and Public Facilities (DOTPF), answered that the
department uses "the hard side" and "the soft side" approach.
The hard side is infrastructure improvements, which are
addressed by the Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) and
the soft side deals with enforcement and education. He
explained:
With the HSIP, every year we go out and we look for
high crash locations and we figure out whether there
are counter measures that work and basically figure
out that we can save this many lives - this many
injuries - what dollars do that - compared to the cost
of construction - figure out a benefit cost ratio -
come up with a list that's prioritized and we fund the
top projects of this list.
SENATOR THERRIAULT asked if the funding comes from regular
capital appropriations or out of the safety fund where he wants
to direct 50 percent of these funds.
MR. OTTESEN replied that the department receives safety funds
directly from the Federal Highway Administration that are
designated for the HSIP. Dollars are taken out, though, if
safety laws are not up to federal standard. Those funds are
directed back to the department through the National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and are partially used on
the soft side and for implementation of engineering
improvements.
SENATOR THERRIAULT asked if he used a flat fee for signing a
stretch of highway.
MR. SMITH responded that the estimates vary depending on
particular conditions in a zone.
1:50:37 PM
SENATOR THERRIAULT commented that the fiscal note didn't
indicate how much money the fines would bring in.
CHAIR HUGGINS pointed out that this is not just a revenue
generator, but a safety mechanism.
SENATOR THERRIAULT asked why the funding has to be directed to
two different funding mechanisms for stretches of highway that
don't meet certain criteria.
MR. OTTESEN answered because some of Alaska's safety laws don't
meet federal criterion, one of them being the open container
law. He said that 3 percent of the state's federal highway funds
are taken back because of those defects and then given back as
safety dollars.
SENATOR THERRIAULT asked if Alaska has double fines in school
zones.
MR. OTTESEN replied that only work zones have double fines.
SENATOR FRENCH asked if a standard would be established for
signage and if using portable speed read-outs was a possibility
so people can see how fast they are going as they progress
through a zone. He asked if the department would consider adding
a trooper - "Because signs without a trooper are just signs...."
1:54:53 PM
MR. SMITH replied that sign frequency would be dealt with the
same as double-fine signs. Every place that has a speed limit
would have a double-fine safety zone sign incorporated with the
speed limit information. Using speed read-outs is a good idea as
well as linking the creation of a safety traffic corridor with
committing resources for a trooper to be during increased
traffic times.
MR. OTTESEN agreed and related that was done on the Seward
Highway.
SENATOR FRENCH remarked that adding safety measures to an area
of highway is enormously expensive, but adding two troopers on
that highway year-round would probably be the cheapest and most
effect way to reduce the number of accidents.
MR. OTTESEN responded that the Alaska Highway Safety Office had
a concentrated program in the past two years to increase
education about DWIs, speeding and reckless driving and coupled
that with key enforcement strategies. It drove down the fatal
accident rate from 92 to 100 per year to the lowest in decades
and certainly the lowest when measured against total traffic.
1:57:54 PM
SENATOR THERRIAULT noted that the state of Oregon's selection
criterion uses a three-year average of vehicle collisions that
are 110 percent above the three-year state average for similar
types of highways. A priority for local state police is to add
at least 50 extra hours of enforcement per month. Oregon also
has a process for decommissioning those areas and he asked Mr.
Smith if he had considered that in Alaska.
MR. SMITH replied that decommissioning had not been thought
through. He speculated that the trouble is if a safety corridor
proves effective and then it gets eliminated, accidents may go
back up. Physical improvements would likely last after the signs
were removed.
SENATOR THERRIAULT asked what the justification would be for
keeping double fines if people started using other roads and the
usage and number of accidents went down.
MR. SMITH replied that the roads they are talking about will
probably not have alternate routes and he doubted that usage
would change very much, but the justification would be to save
lives. "That's the quandary."
SENATOR THERRIAULT reasoned that concept would justify doubling
fines on every road.
2:01:27 PM
MR. SMITH replied that the roads would initially have to
indicate a high accident rate above a set threshold.
CHAIR HUGGINS asked if a municipality could raise fines in other
zones, like school zones.
MR. SMITH replied that he did not know for sure.
CHAIR HUGGINS expressed support for a program that would
forecast unsafe areas. He heard the commissioner of the
Department of Public Safety say on a TV program that the Parks
Highway is the most dangerous zone and asked how long that was
known.
2:04:59 PM
MR. SMITH replied that he didn't know that was necessarily true.
Crash data has a lot of variables and can be looked at a lot of
different ways.
CHAIR HUGGINS expressed that he would support a more
comprehensive bill.
MR. OTTESEN commented that he would like a bill that reevaluated
the results of the safety area every two years or so.
2:08:24 PM
LIEUTENANT JAMES HELGOE, Alaska State Troopers, stated that the
Department of Public Safety (DPS) supported SB 261, because it
would act as a deterrent for speeders. He related that several
other states decommission safety areas once the desired effect
has been reached and he favored that concept, because then
simple speeders aren't continuing to be penalized when the
desired effect of making the road safer has been reached.
2:10:52 PM
CHAIR HUGGINS asked who has the lead responsible for safety on
the Seward Highway between the Girdwood and Anchorage.
LIEUTENANT HELGOE replied that the state troopers who are
stationed in Girdwood are responsible for that stretch of
highway. The Anchorage Police Department takes over at McHugh
Creek.
CHAIR HUGGINS asked what he thought would work besides a police
presence on the road.
LIEUTENANT HELGOE replied that he felt that most people want to
do the right things for the right reasons and a media campaign,
signs posted along the highway and just encouragement statewide
from enforcement would remind people to comply. Over 7,000 cars
a day drive between Girdwood and Anchorage.
2:13:51 PM
CHAIR HUGGINS asked how the state troopers receive DOTPF safety
statistics.
LIEUTENANT HELGOE answered that he gets statistics from Cindy
Cashen. If they identify an area of concern, officers are
offered overtime to patrol the area.
2:15:46 PM
LIEUTENANT HELGOE said he just became legislative liaison after
spending 12 years on the road.
CHAIR HUGGINS asked him what his number one challenge is as the
department liaison.
LIEUTENANT HELGOE replied just getting the information right to
the legislature. For example, he had reviewed the Wasilla
statistics and found a misunderstanding about it being the most
dangerous section of highway. Other roads are in that section
and not all 35 of the traffic fatalities occurred on the Parks
Highway. He said his goal is to improve public safety.
CHAIR HUGGINS asked what percentage of people in accidents were
under the influence.
LIEUTENANT HELGOE guessed about 20-30 percent.
2:19:29 PM
CHAIR HUGGINS asked what he thought the bill was overlooking.
LIEUTENANT HELGOE replied that federal regulations cover placing
of concrete dividers, but the problem with concrete dividers is
that when people drive slowly, they slow everyone down and
summer traffic builds up with RVs and vehicles with people who
want to go fishing - or an emergency vehicle needs to get
somewhere. Access on the roadway should not be limited, but
folks need to drive responsibly and obey the speed limit.
CHAIR HUGGINS asked if a half dozen safety zones popped up
around the state requiring from 2 to 5 troopers, what would be
the implication on the workforce.
LIEUTENANT HELGOE replied that it would be difficult to say
without knowing the area they are talking about.
2:21:51 PM
CINDY CASHEN, Administrator, Highway Safety Office, Department
of Transportation and Public Facilities (DOTPF), agreed with
Lieutenant Helgoe. Currently one DUI patrol is funded; their
special duty is to guard the corridor between Fairbanks into
Kenai. They would like to triple that number and DPS has
responded favorably. These positions would be on top of the 45
currently empty positions.
2:23:44 PM
DOUG WOOLIVER, Administrative Attorney, Alaska Court System,
expressed concern about how the old computer system can't
distinguish between funds. However, he said the Court System has
a new computer system in Anchorage, Fairbanks and Palmer, which
can account for a whole variety of different funds. He said he
would work with the DOT to come up with good language on that
issue.
2:25:47 PM
CHAIR HUGGINS asked what the process is when someone gets a
ticket.
MR. WOOLIVER explained that most tickets can just be mailed in
with money attached, but a court appearance is required above a
certain speed.
2:27:29 PM
RON MARTINDALE, Highway Safety Improvement Program, DOT
Anchorage, said he was trying to figure out how to develop the
criteria.
CHAIR HUGGINS asked him to give a thumbnail sketch of proactive
things the department had done in the last 36 months.
MR. MARTINDALE replied that the department's data system can
track and identify probable locations a lot better than before.
For instance, his region alone has a $13 million program
representing about 32 individual project locations that were all
identified with their database of crashes.
2:30:58 PM
MR. SMITH said he manages the HSIP website that has that
information.
SENATOR FRENCH asked if he tracks accidents in the Anchorage
area - for example at the intersection of Tudor and Minnesota.
MR. SMITH replied yes and that HSIP covers all public roads in
the state.
MR. MARTINDALE explained that the DOTPF crash database contains
every reported crash by every police agency in the state
including all the self-report forms for those that aren't
investigated by police. The municipality gets its data quicker
because it gets information directly from the police department.
MR. OTTESEN interjected that HSIP data follows a very circuitous
process before it gets to DOTPF, which is the last recipient and
comes in all at once in a rush.
2:37:04 PM
MR. OTTESEN said on the issue of the gap between project needs
and funding that for one region alone he received a list of $600
million dollars worth of projects that are "really on the
boards" and he anticipated needing funding for them in the next
couple of years. He emphasized that figure is $600 million above
current funding levels. On top of that, the Seward Highway
widening project of $300 million and the Seward to Glenn
connection project that are being talked about in the long-range
transportation plan in Anchorage, adds up to another $1 billion
dollars. This does not take into account other regions in
Alaska. The bottom line is that many competing concerns are not
being addressed.
2:38:50 PM
CHAIR HUGGINS asked if safety indicators influenced the program
allocation of assets.
MR. OTTESEN replied that the inherent nature of the HSIP program
is that it is reactive. He explained that fatalities are valued
at $2 million and a fender-bender is valued at $2,000 for
statistic purposes and in that sense they are reacting to data.
He supported being more proactive and suggested using citation
data that shows how people are behaving. One software program is
being used in 15 to 18 other states and Alaska is now looking at
it.
2:41:33 PM
CHAIR HUGGINS asked how data on specific accidents can be found.
MR. SMITH replied that he would have to go into the highway
analysis database. He informed the committee that the department
is working on a geographic information system that will allow
people to draw up data from a map.
CHAIR HUGGINS said that he didn't mean to belabor this issue,
but he wanted to work on it and make it come full circle. There
being no further business to come before the committee, he
adjourned the meeting at 2:43:17 PM.
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