{"id":26291,"date":"2024-08-03T15:40:00","date_gmt":"2024-08-03T15:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorado-state-patrols-troop-5a-jurisdiction-seeing-21-decrease-in-overall-crashes-compared-to-last-year\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T05:36:56","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T05:36:56","slug":"colorado-state-patrols-troop-5a-jurisdiction-seeing-21-decrease-in-overall-crashes-compared-to-last-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorado-state-patrols-troop-5a-jurisdiction-seeing-21-decrease-in-overall-crashes-compared-to-last-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado State Patrol\u2019s Troop 5A jurisdiction seeing 21% decrease in overall crashes compared to last year"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Colorado
Colorado State Patrol Trooper Jessie Bartunek updates a motorist on road closures at a checkpoint near South Fork on Sunday. A large wildfire near the popular summer retreat in southern Colorado continues to be driven by winds and fueled by beetle-killed trees in a drought-stricken area.<\/span>Gregory Bull\/Associated Press<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Colorado State Patrol is increasing its efforts to promote safe driving and combat drunken driving.<\/p>\n

Overall crashes in Troop 5A\u2019s jurisdiction are down 21% compared to last year, while proactive DUI arrests are up 18%, according to CSP Capt. Angela DeGuelle.<\/p>\n

DeGuelle said the Cortez team in Troop 5A, which is made up of troopers in Cortez, Durango and Pagosa, are leading in DUI arrests, proactive contacts and overall enforcement actions.<\/p>\n

In Troop 5A, there are three state patrol sergeants, 12 troopers, three corporals and one captain.<\/p>\n

Speaking with The<\/em> Journal<\/em> on Tuesday, DeGuelle said Colorado State Patrol is emphasizing that drivers obey traffic laws, wear their seat belts and pay attention while driving to help continue to lower the number of crashes in the state and in local districts.<\/p>\n

One of the ways troopers spotlight traffic safety is through their monthly \u201csurge days\u201d where they increase their presence on the road.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just have as many people as we can out working and make a lot of traffic stops, really enforcing our traffic laws, but really trying to be more visible,\u201d DeGuelle said. \u201cWhen we do those, I\u2019d like to get that out like, \u2018Hey, this is what\u2019s happening. This is what we\u2019re doing. This is why you\u2019re seeing an increased presence,\u2019 because our job as state troopers is to save lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

DeGuelle says the best way to save lives on the road is through traffic enforcement and education.<\/p>\n

Motorcycle crashes<\/a> are increasing statewide, with one of the most recent fatal crashes taking place near the top of Coal Bank Pass, between Durango and Silverton<\/a>.<\/p>\n

To prevent these kinds of fatalities, DeGuelle said it\u2019s vital to drive the speed limit, follow traffic laws and be a good, conscious driver.<\/p>\n

DeGuelle said motorcycle riders should wear a helmet, and drivers should always wear a seat belt. Parents should ensure their children are properly wearing seat belts and\/or sitting in a proper car seat based on their age and size.<\/p>\n

Throughout the conversation, DeGuelle consistently emphasized that drivers need to pay attention to their speed and what is going on around them, noting that the leading cause of crashes in July were lane violations. Many times, lane violations occur when the driver isn\u2019t paying attention on the road and is speeding.<\/p>\n

There would be far fewer crashes if drivers pay attention to their lane, speed and didn\u2019t drive under the influence of alcohol and other substances, DeGuelle said.<\/p>\n

Crashes overall for the year to date are down 21% as of July 28, according to the Vehicular Crimes Analysis Unit. Troopers have increased their number of proactive contacts by 21%, which contributed to the shift.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it goes hand in hand, the more people you contact, the lower the crash picture,\u201d DeGuelle said.<\/p>\n

However, proactive DUI arrests have increased by 18%.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat means more people are out there drinking when they are driving when they shouldn\u2019t be,\u201d DeGuelle said. \u201cI\u2019m not including animals in there. These are human caused crashes. If people were going the speed limit, paying attention to driving and staying in their lane, we can really knock out so many of the crashes. We could avoid them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWear your seat belt, slow down, give the other drivers a little bit of grace,\u201d DeGuelle added.<\/p>\n

If a residents spot a dangerous driver, DeGuelle said to call the Colorado State Patrol by dialing *277. The call will go to a dispatch center, where it will be followed up on.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes it\u2019s not immediate, but we do take those seriously,\u201d DeGuelle said. \u201cIf there\u2019s a drunk driver, please call that in. We\u2019re small in number, but we are very diligent and hard working.\u201d<\/p>\n

DeGuelle also said keeping the community safe takes on an entirely new meaning when they also take into account that their families live there.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all live here, you know, we want our community safe,\u201d DeGuelle said. \u201cIf this is where our spouses are, our children are \u2026 our families live here. We want them to be safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Colorado State Patrol troopers are also willing to speak on traffic safety and other related topics at community events, school events and more. Those interested in scheduling a sit-down with a state trooper can contact the state patrol office.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would prefer voluntary compliance, and that\u2019s through education versus having to write someone that ticket,\u201d DeGuelle said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

troopers are leading Troop 5A in DUI arrests and more<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26292,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[21,950,28,52,29,310,1310],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-26291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-cortez","tag-durango","tag-headlines","tag-law-enforcement","tag-newsletter","tag-pagosa-springs","tag-safety-of-citizens"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26291"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26291\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79300,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26291\/revisions\/79300"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26291"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=26291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}