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CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (CLARKSVILLENOW) – The Clarksville Police Department (CPD) has released traffic crash statistics from 2018 within the city limits of Clarksville.

According to CPD, the 2018 population estimate for the city of Clarksville is 153,000. Montgomery County’s population pushes that figure to 200,000. This ia about a 15 percent increase in population since the 2010 census.

In 2018, there were 7,220 crashes in Clarksville compared to 6,684 in 2017 (an increase of 536 crashes). However, injury crashes were reduced by three percent from 2017 to 2018.

The top five major roadways for 2018 crashes were:
1. Wilma Rudolph Blvd: 1,070 crashes
2. Fort Campbell Blvd: 739 crashes
3. Madison Street: 544 crashes
4. SR-374 (commonly referred to as Warfield Blvd, 101st Pkwy): 480 crashes
5. Trenton Road: 430 crashes

These roads account for 44 percent of the total crashes and 38 percent of the injury crashes in the city.

The top five contributing factors for crashes were:
1. Following improperly: 1,754 crashes
2. Failure to obey traffic controls, failure to yield right of way, failure to observe warnings: 1,301 crashes
3. Improper backing: 747 crashes
4. Aggressive or distracted driving 540 crashes
5. Failure to keep in lane, improper lane change, driving wrong way or side of the roadway: 444 crashes

Failure to obey traffic controls, failure to yield right of way, failure to observe warnings incidents resulted in the most injury crashes (368).

CPD says most crashes occurred on Fridays.

There were 20 fatality crashes in 2018 compared to 13 in 2017. The top factors for the 2018 fatality crashes were:

1. Failure to obey traffic controls/yield right of way: 7
2. Aggressive/distracted driving: 5
3. Exceeding posted speed limit, speed too fast for conditions: 4

Included in the 20 fatality crashes were six pedestrian fatalities, all of which occurred after dusk. Four were wearing dark clothing while attempting to cross a major roadway. In three cases, alcohol usage was suspected.

There were two female and four male fatalities which ranged in ages from 22-71 years of age. There have been 163 crashes involving pedestrians, in Clarksville, since Jan 2015. There were two pedestrian fatalities in 2017. Tennessee has seen a 23 percent increase in collisions involving pedestrians according to the Governor’s Highway Safety Association.

“The Clarksville Police Dept. is taking a multi-faceted approach to reducing crashes and saving lives in 2019,” spokesman Jim Knoll told ClarksvilleNow.com. “We will be using high visibility traffic enforcement on major highways and target crash factors such as speeding, inattentive driving, following too closely, seat belt usage, and DUIs. We will continue to take part in the Tennessee Highway Safety Office’s saturation events, such as ‘Booze It & Lose It’ which targets impaired drivers or ‘Click It or Ticket’ which emphasizes the usage of seat belts.”

Knoll said CPD will also work in conjunction with Fort Campbell to educate military members about the risk factors associated with distracted, impaired, or reckless driving.

Law enforcement will also ramp up education programs, including student traffic awareness training classes, increased social media and public service announcements, and the dissemination of information through message boards.

“The volume and density of traffic will increase as the population in Clarksville and surrounding areas continues to grow,” Knoll said. “We will continue to strive to reduce crashes and ensure the roadways are safe for the drivers of Clarksville.”