WESTERLO — A New York State Trooper went off the road in Westerlo Sunday morning, striking a tree and an embankment near where Route 85 intersects with Cass Hill Road, while they were responding to a medical emergency with their lights and sirens on. 

Troop G spokeswoman Stephanie O’Neill told The Enterprise that the trooper was unharmed. 

A University of Iowa study from 2018 found that police vehicles in that state were nearly twice as likely to be involved in a crash when in “emergency mode” — lights and sirens activated — than when not. Fire trucks and ambulances, however, were not any more likely to crash when responding to an emergency. 

Data from the New York State Department of Transportation shows that police in New York have been crashing their vehicles more frequently. The average number of crashes each year from 2018 to 2022 was 2,841, while the average from 2013 to 2017 was 1,913.