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Police Want Drivers to Slow Down on Idaho 16

Nampa, Idaho – An accident on Idaho 16 Tuesday morning sent two people to the hospital. 

Last week, a 40-year-old Heidi Lund was in a head on crash on the same highway. She died Monday night.

Police say they’re concerned about the number of fatalities on the highway -- three so far this year.

Idaho 16 is a two-lane road with a 65-mile an hour speed limit. Traffic is heaviest during rush hour when people are running late and in a hurry.

“When you have the car in front of you doing 60, maybe 65 miles per hour, all of a sudden cars start backing up on you. It becomes a game to see who is going to jump out and follow him. You can't tell what's coming down the road until it's on your grill,” said Sgt. John Laraway, with the Ada County Sheriff’s Office.

Glenn Naylor knows all to well how true that is. He's been towing cars and trucks in the valley for 40 years and has seen more than his share of accidents. 

“The road's to narrow and they don’t look ahead.  I travel that road a lot and I pick up a lot of wrecks on that road.  People need to slow down and pay attention," said Naylor, of Naylor Towing.

Police have stepped up patrols, but they say drivers still aren’t getting the message.  

“Hopefully, someone will see on the news tonight these two vehicles, these injured people and go, 'Oh my gosh. Maybe we need to do a little different thinking,' ” said Laraway.

Over the last six years,  the number of crashes has steadily gone down. For example, Idaho Transportation Department stats show in 2004 there were 56 crashes.  That number was down to 32 last year and 18 so far in 2009.

The number of deaths however, has gone up.  In 2004 there were two deaths, one in 2005, zero in 2006, one in 2007, zero again in 2008 and now three in 2009.