The year’s extraordinary death toll on North Olympic Peninsula highways is attributed by a veteran trooper at the scene to selfish driving.
“These people have no regard for others,” sighed State Patrol Sgt. Ken Przygocki at the scene of Monday’s fatal wreck on U.S. Highway 101 near Agnew.
“They want to get somewhere, and nothing will get in their way.
“It’s me, me, me.”
This year’s unusually high numbers of grisly wrecks — Monday’s Agnew fatality was the 15th since Jan. 1 — has left law enforcement personnel and rescue workers shaking their heads.
“The troops are getting frustrated,” Przygocki said.
“What more can they do? We try to keep them on the road as much as possible.”
The State Patrol operates two detachment units on the North Olympic Peninsula.
Between the two, there are 16 troopers assigned to the roads.
But given scheduled days off, training sessions and responses to collisions, they are stretched thin, Przygocki said.
And when wrecks do happen, the required paperwork and investigation time that follow takes even more time away from patrolling the highways, he said.