In 2021, of the 57 law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty as the result of a traffic-related incidents, 28 were struck and killed by a vehicle while on foot. That number was up from 14 struck by deaths in 2020, an alarming increase of 100%.
“Compared to 2020, you see that struck by crashes; we doubled them, and that’s my biggest area of concern,” says Nick Bruel, Senior Project Manager for the National Law Enforcement Memorial Fund and a retired member of the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia. “Not that they’re not all important, but clearly something is going on here.”
Bruel reviewed traffic-related line of duty deaths from 2021 and did a deeper dive on traffic safety during a webinar hosted by the NLEOMF in partnership with the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA).
This article appeared in the July issue of OFFICER Magazine. Click Here to view the digital edition. Click Here to subscribe to OFFICER Magazine.
The total number of law enforcement officers killed in struck by crashes in 2021 is the highest number the NLEOMF has ever recorded. Of the 28 officers fatally struck by vehicles, 48% of the incidents occurred at crash scenes.
Of the officers struck and killed by vehicles, 13 were at an existing crash scene, four involved officers being intentionally run down by suspects, three were deploying tire deflation devices, two were assisting disabled motorists, two were struck while conducting a traffic stop and one officer was struck while removing debris from the roadway.
Eleven of the drivers involved in collisions, or who struck officers, were impaired, meaning they were under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Two of the drivers were distracted and one driver was falling asleep behind the wheel when the collision occurred.
“This is, I think where we need to focus our efforts on preventing officers from being struck and begin to look at some of those solutions that we’ve put out before but are still viable solutions with regard to TIM (Traffic Incident Management) training, wearing reflective vests, positioning vehicles and making scenes safer,” says Bruel. “I’ve been working for the memorial fund for a long time, and I’ve never recalled any category that doubled from one year to the next, so I think it’s a real problem.”
One key area he says needs to be focused on is Move Over laws and whether those laws are being enforced. Thirteen of the 28 struck by fatalities involved violations of slowdown and Move Over laws. That means the patrol vehicle’s lights were on while positioned on the shoulder or in the roadway.
All 50 states require motorists to slow down and get over to a safer lane if possible, when they observe a patrol vehicle with its emergency lights activated.
Bruel says that to lower the risk of traffic fatalities and enhance safety, officers must do things like wear their body armor while inside a vehicle, wear their seat belt, wear high visibility-reflective vests, tactically position their vehicles to help protect them, conduct right-side passenger approaches, mark their vehicles with reflective striping and learn about Traffic Incident Management.
Watch the full NLEOMF/NHTSA webinar at Officer.com/21271381
This article appeared in the July issue of OFFICER Magazine.
