More Accidents in Ellsworth in 2016 or 2015?

A WDEA listener and website reader messaged me the other day, asking if there were more vehicular accidents in the City of Ellsworth in 2016 than there were in 2015. Right off the top of my head I thought that there must be... It seems like every other day we are reporting a serious accident, and then there's all the road construction. So I called the Ellsworth Police Department to find out.

According to Lieutenant Harold Page, there were 731 vehicle accidents reported in 2015, and so far in 2016, there were 492 accidents reported through September 21st. If you extrapolate the 2016 totals, we're on pace to be under the 2015 total, assuming the average stays the same for the rest of the year.

There are some tips you can take to heart to reduce your chance of being in an automobile accidents and although they may seem commonsense, you'd be surprised how many drivers don't follow these simple rules

1. Slow down! Just look at the Ellsworth American's police beat and you can see how many people are flying on Ellsworth's roads
2. Don't text and drive! If you have to be on your cellphone, make sure you are using it in a handsfree mode.
3. Follow the directions of all the flaggers in the road construction areas.
4. Allow extra time to get to your destination. This will decrease the temptation to speed or take shortcuts.
5. Drive defensively. Watch out for your other drivers
6. Don't get behind the wheel when you have been drinking or are tired.
7. With winter coming be sure to clean off your car before driving. Make sure you can see out of all your windows, and that the snow is off the top of your vehicle too

If we can all be a little more careful and extra vigilant we can insure that the 2016 accident total is less than 2015's