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One hundred sixty-five people died on Delaware’s roads in 2022. That’s the most highway deaths in more than three decades. After a series of increased enforcement efforts and a public awareness campaign, the state Office of Highway Safety is trying a new tactic in its efforts to improve safety: community engagement.
OHS is hosting town hall meetings in both English and Spanish in each of the three counties, with each county having its own set of topics to address according to the county’s statistics. The timing of the meetings coincides with a surge in crashes and fatalities seen in the state last year around this time.
“There was a significant uptick that occurred in the fall,” said OHS Director Sharon Bryson. “When you project that across the trend line, what we believe is that if we continue doing what we’re currently doing and seeing the number of crashes that we’re currently seeing, we will reach last year’s number and potentially higher. So we’ve got to do something now.”