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The number of crashes in Sanders County was down slightly in 2017 (268 versus 271 in 2016), according to the 2017 annual report released by the Montana Highway Patrol (MHP). The number of injury crashes was also down in 2017 (58), while there were three fatal crashes in the county.
Sanders County is part of MHP’s District 1, which also includes Missoula, Mineral and Ravalli counties. The number of property damage crashes was 207 last year, up from 188 in 2016.
In 2017, there were 22 fatal crashes in District 1. That matched 2016’s number and was down from 26 fatalities in 2015. MHP responded to almost 30,000 calls for service and investigated 2,422 crashes in District 1. In 2017, MHP had 15,429 traffic stops and issues 12,519 citations and 24,116 warnings in District 1.
Statewide, MHP issued 70,444 citations, including 2.295 DUIs, in 2017. Speeding was the most frequent citation issued, followed seat belt and liability insurance violations.
While the number of total crashes is up in Montana (22,927 in 2015 and 24,442 in 2017), the number of fatalities has decreased more than 15 percent (224 in 2015 versus 186 in 2017. MHP reported that more crashes occurred in 2017 between 4 and 5 p.m. than any other hour of the day, on Friday more than any other day of the week, and in December than any other month of the year. When it came to fatal crashes, most occurred between 1 and 2 p.m. than any other hour, on Saturdays than any other day, and in July than any other month.
MHP also reported on the frequency of incidents. In Montana in 2017, there was an average of one crash every 22 minutes, one injury every 72 minutes, and a fatality every 47 hours. Seat belt usage increased overall in Montana, up 2 percent to 78.20 percent.
According to MHP, alcohol or drugs were present in 4.89 percent of all crashes, and 25.54 percent of fatal crashes in 2017 in Montana.
In 2017, 22 motorcycles were killed in Montana, and there were 379 crashes involving motorcyclists, according to MHP.
MHP also reported statistics on drug activities. In 2017, MHP made 217 felony drug arrests, 154 of those for meth. The state agency also seized 68.06 pounds of meth, 4,661.38 pounds of marijuana, .43 pounds of heroin, 1.05 pounds of cocaine an more than 1,200 pills in 2017, issuing a total of 2,334 drug citations.
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