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First Posted: 1/8/2015

A fiery crash in Susquehanna County last week took the life of a 27-year-old Marine and father of two young boys. The SUV in which Staff Sgt. Andrew Stevens was driving reportedly was stopped behind two fracking trucks when a water truck smashed into the back of him.

The crash caused a chain reaction that sandwiched Stevens’ SUV between the water truck and the fracking truck in front of him, according to a published report. The SUV immediately went up in flames and Sgt. Stevens died at the scene.

An increase in natural gas fracking has led to a spike in traffic fatalities in towns that find their roadways filled with large drilling rigs and fracking trucks. Drilling activity increases too quickly for many small communities to keep pace in making changes in road safety, such as building new roads, improving or widening existing roads or installing traffic signals in areas where they might now be needed. The deadly consequences of this increased and unexpected traffic are seen in the death of Sgt. Andrews and other fatalities like this across the country.

An Associated Press analysis of traffic deaths and U.S. census data in six drilling states show that in some places fatalities have more than quadrupled since 2004, a period when most American roads have become much safer. According to the Associated Press, the hydraulic-fracturing process also requires 2,300 to 4,000 truck trips per well to deliver needed fluids, while older drilling techniques needed many fewer trips.

Texas, a state that has been in the midst of a multi-year fracking boom, has seen traffic deaths climb as a result. The Texas Department of Transportation reported that fatal crashes on Texas highways increased 50 percent from 2009 through 2013. This increase in fatalities came after decades of declines in Texas, just as the boom in fracking operations was beginning. Texas led the nation in traffic fatalities in 2012.

The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration’s 2012 Fatality Analysis Reporting System shows that Pennsylvania is in the top five states in fatal crashes, with 1,211, following only Texas with 3,021, California with 2,632, Florida with 2,247 and North Carolina with 1,222. These five states accounted for more than a third of the fatal crashes in the entire country.

The Associated Press reported that traffic fatalities in Pennsylvania drilling counties rose 4 percent from 2009 to 2013, while in the rest of the state they fell 19 percent.

While safer vehicles and highways are helping to improve traffic safety, we need to help decrease the number of accidents near fracking sites. Pennsylvania and other states need to work to improve safety in fracking towns by widening and improving roads and enforcing traffic laws. Although federal rules limit the amount of time most truckers can drive, the rules are less strict for drivers in the oil and gas industry. These laws need to be improved and enforced.

We need to do all we can do to prevent tragedies like the death of Sgt. Andrew Stevens and others who have fallen victim to fracking truck accidents.