The Colorado State Patrol dramatically reduced enforcement of highway safety in 2011 and 2012. During those years, traffic-related deaths on state highways spiked.

Troopers issued fewer tickets, made fewer arrests and stopped fewer drivers, according to the State Patrol’s own data.

The rise in highway fatalities was striking because it reversed a dramatic nine-year decline in highway deaths, from 743 to 439. The death toll started rising again in the last two years, reaching 468 last year.

The changes came under the watch of then-patrol Chief James Wolfinbarger.

During the four years Wolfinbarger was in command, the State Patrol changed its strategy for reducing highway deaths. For example, CSP previously had specific goals, such as cutting fatal and injury crashes on the worst roads by 6 percent in 2009. It actually achieved 14 percent.

But by 2011, Wolfinbarger’s patrol had abandoned such specific targets in favor of a vague goal to “maximize intelligence-led strategies to protect life and property.”

In January, the state of Colorado paid Wolfinbarger $90,000 to retire at age 42. Both sides agreed not to discuss reasons for his unexpected departure.

However, the retirement came after the State Patrol lost two legal cases. One involved anti-gay discrimination; the other was a $1 million settlement in January in the high-profile, wrongful death of Jason Kemp. In 2010, the Grand Junction man was shot after troopers broke down his front door when Kemp refused to let them enter his home without a search warrant.

The State Patrol refused to answer questions about Wolfinbarger’s departure, citing the contract termination agreement. Wolfinbarger did not return a call to his home in Douglas County.

The patrol’s data shows that from 2009 to 2011:

The number of impaired driving arrests dropped by 21 percent, from 8,035 to 6,381.

The number of speeding tickets issued declined by 17 percent, from 88,911 to 73,765.

The number of tickets issued for failure to wear seat belts dropped by 37 percent, from 41,100 to 26,011.

In an interview with Colorado Public News, interim Chief Scott Hernandez termed the 29 additional highway deaths as “a lot.”

“It’s people. It’s devastating to the families,” Hernandez said. “Personally, it’s heartbreaking.”

He acknowledged “there could be a link,” in the rise in highway deaths coming at the same time as the decline in enforcement – and something the department will need to examine.

Chris Halsor, a traffic prosecutor with the Colorado District Attorneys’ Council, said safer cars, safer highways and increased awareness of safety issues contributed to the state’s nine-year decline in highway deaths before the numbers began ticking upward in 2011.

But “enforcement tends to be one of the best measures for basically causing a reduction in these things,” Halsor added. “When (people) see that law-enforcement officer on the side of the road, they check themselves, or they think to themselves, ‘I shouldn’t be drinking tonight’ or ‘I really should put my cellphone down while I’m driving.’”

Patrol data shows that during 2011 and ’12, troopers also seriously reduced their contacts with drivers, even those not resulting in a ticket. When on special overtime patrols to find drunken drivers and enforce seat-belt use, troopers cut their contacts with drivers by nearly two-thirds from 2011 to ’12.

“I don’t know exactly why,” Hernandez said of the decline in troopers’ contacts.

Some troopers may have stopped fewer people because they were looking for more telltale signs of a drunken driver, he said. For example, a trooper might focus on drivers turning wide instead of tightly around a corner because drivers rarely do that unless they are intoxicated, he said.

Hernandez also said required extra training may have taken troopers off the road and led to fewer tickets. All 750 officers took four hours of training on Fourth Amendment protections on search and seizure last year – training that was mandated after Kemp was shot and killed after asking officers for a search warrant.

Hernandez said the patrol has not yet analyzed the enforcement data or changed policy. But he did say troopers would be emphasizing impaired driving this year.

The Colorado Department of Public Safety reports two-thirds of the vehicle occupants killed on highways in the state in 2011 were not wearing seat belts. Another 41 percent of deaths involved speeding, and one-third involved a drunken driver.

The Colorado Department of Transportation pays for the overtime patrols on drunk driving and seat-belt use from its budget. CDOT spokeswoman Emily Wolfing said her department is working with the patrol to make sure the overtime achieves the goal of reducing deaths. There are no quotas for troopers, for tickets or for contacts with the public, she said.

Colorado Public News, a nonprofit news organization, reports on issues of statewide interest. It partners with Colorado Public Television 12, Denver’s independent PBS station.

Seat belts, air bags help reduce fatalities

Colorado’s drop in highway deaths may have stalled in the last two years. But previous declining numbers of fatalities has been credited to State Patrol tactics, as well as safer vehicles and roads.

Cars now have airbags and crash warnings. The state has installed more cable dividers on highways to prevent head-on collisions. More people use seat belts.

According to the Colorado Department of Transportation’s most recent analysis, the three leading factors that resulted in increased deaths in 2011 were speeding, not wearing a seat belt and reduced pedestrian safety, with both drivers and pedestrians at fault.

The recession also caused people to drive less, so that also played a role in reducing deaths, said Anne McCartt of the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety. She said highway deaths started rising nationally in 2012.

“That’s just a sad result of a better economy. … What we’re all hoping is that they don’t go up to the level that they were before we saw this big decline.”

The Colorado State Patrol currently is targeting drunk driving and the times and locations of frequent crashes. Officers also invite parents to consult with them about proper installation of children’s car seats – 75 percent or more are believed to be installed incorrectly.

Wearing a seat belt increases a person’s chance of surviving a serious accident by 50 percent

“Staying inside of your vehicle in any type of crash is the safest place you can be,” says CSP Trooper Josh Lewis.

Vehicles are made to crash around us, he says, so in the event of a crash, a person is four times more likely to die from being thrown out of a vehicle than from remaining inside with a seat belt on.

Crash-avoidance features are the most recent improvements in vehicles aimed at preventing crashes to begin with. Electronic stability control reduces the risk of death from a single-car accident by 50 percent, research from the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety shows. It senses when a car’s steering is out of the driver’s control and applies the brakes so the driver can regain control.

Other newer features can warn of forward collisions, detect vehicles or objects in the driver’s blind spots, adjust headlights and monitor whether the car stays in one lane. Once only available in luxury cars, these technologies increasingly are available in standard models.