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Vermont State Police lieutenant tells committee speeding, unbelted occupants and drug impairment are main drivers of fatal crashes; outlines data‑led targeting
Summary
Lieutenant Paul Ravlin presented a 10‑year review of traffic stops and serious crashes, said the four leading causes of major crashes are distracted driving, unbelted occupants, speed and impairment, and described heat‑map targeting, DRE training expansion, and operational concerns about automated enforcement and LPRs.
Lieutenant Paul Ravlin, executive officer of the Vermont State Police special operations unit, briefed the committee on crash trends and the department's enforcement strategy. "The four main causes of serious bodily injury or fatal crashes... are distracted driving, unbelted occupants, speed, and impairment," Ravlin said, explaining those factors account for the majority of major crashes the State Police respond to.
Ravlin described Drug Recognition Expert (DRE) training and the state's effort to expand DRE capacity: "We have 10 DREs; our goal is two per barracks," he said, outlining the extensive classroom and evaluation requirements for DRE certification. He told members drug‑only fatalities have outpaced alcohol‑only fatalities in recent years and that THC and prescribed medications are commonly detected.
Reviewing a decade of traffic stops and crashes, Ravlin said reporting changes and COVID-era adjustments affected stop totals; traffic stops fell markedly from a peak in 2017 but major crashes did not decline proportionately, prompting a shift to data‑driven enforcement. The State Police now produce speed‑related heat maps showing locations with a high incidence of speed‑related serious crashes and give those maps to barracks to prioritize limited trooper resources, he said. "If you reduce the speed by 3 miles an hour, you significantly increase your chance of survivability," Ravlin told the committee.
On automated enforcement and license‑plate readers, he said LPRs have investigative value but automated speed enforcement presents verification, workload and equity challenges because Vermont's moving‑violation process requires checks (military status, registration and address verification) that scale poorly for tens or hundreds of automated citations. He described options discussed elsewhere — a parking‑ticket style fine or municipal deployment — but warned of operational tradeoffs.
Committee members asked about making seat‑belt violations primary, inspection enforcement and older‑driver testing. Ravlin said seat‑belt citations are currently secondary and typically issued when a driver is stopped for a primary offense; he said data from the state crash database (maintained by Vermont highway safety) should inform any changes. On older drivers, Ravlin described trooper referral processes that prompt medical review or driver‑improvement evaluation rather than a broad age‑based retesting requirement.
Ravlin closed by urging continued coordination across agencies and noting staffing vacancies (about 18.6% vacancy in trooper positions) affect enforcement strategy and the implementation of new programs.
