State police officials lament highway deaths

Hagadone News Network

BONNERS FERRY — Two separate fatal crashes in Boundary County brought the total to 16 fatal accidents in North Idaho within the past two months, angering and depressing Idaho State Police Officers.

They must not only respond to the scene, but notify relatives.

"A part of us goes away when we have to say, I'm sorry your son is dead. I'm sorry your wife is dead," said ISP Capt. Wayne Longo.

"It's starting to hit my people really, really hard," he said.

"You don't get used to it," Longo said.

"I never want to be a person that would want to get used to it."

Three of four family members died on Friday morning when an alleged drunken driver's pickup collided head on with a Plymouth Neon, killing 2-year-old Kjestine Saunders, 24-year-old Bart D. Bartron and 21-year-old Tabitha Saunders. Lyssa Saunders, an infant born May 20 this year, is in serious condition at Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane following the crash.

Luke A. Peterson, 26, of Naples, was charged with felony aggravated driving under the influence and three counts of vehicular manslaughter.

"I've gone from distressed to depressed to mad," Longo said.

"This is so useless and senseless. It doesn't have to happen."

Ten hours earlier, Cindy Smith, 30 of Bonners Ferry died in a crash on County Road 30 and 30 B when a pickup hit the car she was riding in. The two drivers, Wiyanna Davitta Smith, 17, of Bonners Ferry and Ada F. Yoder, 59, of Bonners Ferry were injured.

Their condition is unknown.

One trooper, Kevin Bennett, responded to both of the crashes, assisting at one and taking charge at the other. It's difficult to deal with deaths so close to each other, said Longo.

"It's hard to not look at it and see the faces of your own children," he said.

Four other people were killed the weekend before last, turning July into one of the worst months in recent memory for fatal crashes.

When a frustrated Longo spoke to The Hagadone News Network on July 25, already one person had died in a crash in Bonner County, and another was arrested on a state highway with a blood alcohol level of 0.13 — at 10:30 a.m.

"It's stretching everybody's resources between fire and EMS," he said following the Boundary County crashes.

"The trauma for everyone involved in this from law enforcement to fire and obviously their families is they happen so close together."

Communities also suffer, said Longo, especially small ones like Boundary County.

"It's just not an anonymous crash," he said.

In larger communities, most aren't personally acquainted with the victims like they are in small towns.

"There's not that high percentage of people that might know the victim," said Longo.

He attributed the crashes to a "conglomeration" of squeezed ISP resources that haven't increased in years, gridlock to the south and to drivers making bad choices.

According to last year's transportation department report on traffic collisions, Idaho's fatality rate of 1.75 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled was at an all-time low in 2004, but "significantly higher" than the national rate of 1.48.

There are 35 state patrol officers working in all of North Idaho, but not all of them are assigned to the roads.

The situation is similar throughout much of Idaho.

Although trooper presence hasn't kept pace with the number of drivers, nearly every crash is avoidable, too, he said.

Some choose to drink and drive, others to speed or take drugs and drive. In crowded areas, people drive aggressively or talk on cell phones.

"They make a bad decision in a split second and that can affect them for the rest of their lives, or somebody else's life," he said.

? Hagadone News Network's Brendan Selby contributed to this story.