PORT ANGELES — Although the year isn’t over, it appears that deaths on Clallam County roadways will decrease compared to 2004’s totals.
Driving 101 Traffic Safety Corridor Project committee members called the group’s first year a success based on those decreased fatalities.
“Knock on wood,” Clallam County Sheriff Joe Martin said Tuesday at the quarterly steering committee meeting of the group.
The steering committee is tasked with improving safety on U.S. Highway 101 between state Highway 112 to the west and the Clallam-Jefferson county line to the east.
It held its meeting almost a year after the safety project began.
In 2004, 14 people died as a result of collisions on Clallam County roads, half of those on Highway 101.
So far this year, nine people have died from injuries sustained in vehicle collisions in the county, with five of those deaths occurring on Highway 101.
“I think we’ve had a pretty successful year,” said Martin, who chairs the group.