FOLEY – City officials are developing a plan to cut the number of Foley traffic accidents by 50% in the next decade.
The Foley City Council approved a resolution adopting targets for reducing traffic fatalities and serious accidents. The city is preparing a Safety Action Plan as part of the Safe Streets and Roads for All grant.
Wayne Dyess, Foley executive director of infrastructure and development, said the plan calls for finding ways to cut the number of accidents in upcoming years.
“The committee recommends that our goal is to reduce accidents by half by 2035 and by 75% by 2050,” Dyess said. “This plan will have goals and it will have action items and so forth to help us reach that target.”
“We feel like these measures are something that is achievable and something that we can do through these recommendations in the action plan,” he added.
Between 2018 and 2022, a total of 5,218 traffic accidents were reported in the Foley city limits. In that five-year period, 17 people died in wrecks on Foley roads and another 140 people received serious injuries.
Most of the accidents, 97.5%, involved cars or trucks. Accidents involving motorcycles, pedestrians and bicycles were much less common, but motorcycle riders and pedestrians were much more likely to be seriously injured or killed in accidents.
A total of 23.5% of fatalities involved motorcycles and 17.6% involved pedestrians.
Other safety factors found in accidents included the improper use of safety equipment, such as safety belts, in 25 crashes, aggressive driving in 21 wrecks, distracted, intoxicated or tired drivers in 17, older drivers in 14 and teenage drivers in 14.
Studies presented at a meeting to discuss plan preparations found that some intersections had a higher density of accidents. Intersections with high accident density include along Alabama 59 at the points where the highway meets Baldwin County 20, Pride Drive and Orange Avenue. On the Foley Beach Express, the intersections of East Section Avenue – U.S. 98, and Baldwin County 20 also had a higher accident density.
The plan will include education campaigns, policy updates and other actions to promote road safety, encourage responsible behavior and active participation in fatality and serious injury reduction efforts.
The city will study how well the plan reduces fatalities and serious injuries on city roads and report progress to the public.
Foley officials will also work with the Alabama Department of Transportation, Baldwin County, law enforcement, community organizations and other groups to implement the projects and strategies identified in the plan.