The '100 deadliest days'

COEUR d’ALENE — The number of crashes has increased and so have the deaths.

Between Memorial Day and Labor Day each year — referred to as the “100 deadliest days” by state police — the number of car crashes in Idaho’s District 1, which includes Coeur d’Alene, jumped from 323 to 414 in the three years leading up to 2015, according to the latest regional data.

The number of deaths associated with those crashes increased from 10 in 2013, to 14 two years later, according to the state.

And there is no indication that the trend will abate.

That’s why Capt. John Kempf of District 1 in Coeur d’Alene and his troopers have joined forces with Washington Highway Patrol and Montana Highway Patrol to target road safety issues this summer.

Kempf said his department reviews in-house data from previous summer crashes to find target areas.

“We evaluate that data and saturate those areas with our troops,” Kempf said.

Some of the highways where crash numbers pile up connect the state’s borders, including I-90, which connects all three states, Highway 41 connecting Idaho with the Washington border, and Highway 200 in Bonner County that ties Idaho to Montana.

Kempf’s troopers met with their counterparts across state lines Thursday at District 1 headquarters to get to know each other, share information and talk shop.

“It gives them the opportunity to meet face-to-face,” Kempf said.

Beginning today, the official kickoff of the “100 deadliest days” campaign, the patrol officers will start communicating across borders via cellphones, he said.

According to the transportation department, Highway 95 logged the district’s highest crash numbers in 2015 with 72 crashes, including five fatalities, up from 46 crashes and two fatalities two years earlier.

By comparison, I-90 had 34 crashes and one fatality in 2015, Highway 41 logged 13 crashes in 2015 with no fatalities, and Highway 2 had 13 crashes and no fatalities in 2015.

State Highway 3 had 11 crashes with no fatalities in 2015, and Highway 200 had eight crashes with no fatalities the same year.

It isn’t just drivers impaired by alcohol and drugs, or speeding drivers that will be in troopers' crosshairs — police will also look for drivers who are texting, or who are otherwise distracted.

Police are asking motorists to call ISP to report impaired or hazardous drivers, by dialing *477.

“That goes straight to dispatch,” Kempf said.

The goal is to get through the summer with no fatalities, public information officer Tim Marsano said.

“We want to remind drivers of the simple things that can save your life,” he said.

Slow down, buckle up, drive sober and report hazardous motorists, he said.