Our
mission story is clearly Craig Anderson’s look at Delaware’s dangerous roads.
This package really shined with the visual elements drawing readers in, and
presenting data in an engaging way to enhance the main story and two sidebars.
Thanks to Darin Powell for his design work on those maps and breakout boxes,
and his pagination of the print pages.
This
story idea, pitched by publisher Darel La Prade, began late in 2021 and the
news relevance increased with a spike in fatal crashes on Delaware’s roads
early in the year. Craig gathered statistics from the Office of Highway Safety,
the state Department of Transportation and the Delaware State Police from the
past five years with the most recent data showing a near 20% increase in
fatalities, pedestrians and bicyclists from 2020 to 2021. He built on that data
with interviews from experts offering insight into the cause of the crashes and
initiatives underway to reduce them. Sidebars looked at the emotional work of a
MADD victims services specialist who counsels family members who have lost
loved ones and how police are seeking details in unsolved hit-and-run crashes.
From
Craig’s reporting: 139 fatalities
occurred in 2021, the most in 15 years and a 19% increase from 2020. There were
29 pedestrians among them, 24 motorcyclists and two bicyclists, along with
those in motor vehicle crashes. The numbers haven’t been that high since 2006,
when there were 147 fatalities on Delaware roadways.
“Everyone
needs to do their part,” said Delaware Secretary of Transportation Nicole Majeski. “Everyone needs to slow down, they need to
put their phones down, they need to be driving attentively.
At the time of his
reporting, 22 people had already
been killed in traffic crashes this
year. Since then, nearly a half dozen more
have been killed, with four people dying in four days last weekend. Two of
those were 17-year-olds who grew up playing Little League together in Kent
County. (Mike Finney covered their grassroots memorial service in Schutte Park
late this month.)
Craig received
positive feedback including the following emails:
The
article turned out great – thank you again for the opportunity for highlighting
Alisa and her work with MADD.
We
are so grateful for your help in highlighting this important issue. Be well and
have a great day!
Robin M. Stimson, LMSW
Manager, Victim Services
Mothers Against Drunk Driving
Mid-Atlantic Region
I
saw the article over the weekend. This was very well written and thank you for
helping to spread awareness to the public.
Best
Regards,
Jason
D. Coleman
Marketing
Specialist II
Delaware
Office of Highway Safety
We know that crime stories and crashes are
top reads for our web audience and this was a great example of how trends in
beat reporting can lead to indepth enterprise and hopefully build readers and
audiences in print and web.
