An Ada County sheriff's motorcycle deputy on Idaho 16 Tuesday morning had just watched an Oldsmobile whiz by him at about 70 mph when he decided to find out why the driver was going so fast.

He never got the chance. Moments later, the deputy drove up to the aftermath of a high-speed collision just north of Beacon Light Road involving the same car. Three people were hospitalized.

Just a week before, a head-on collision several miles north on Idaho 16, by Freezeout Hill, put three others in hospital. One of the drivers in that crash, 40-year-old Heidi J. Lund, died Monday from her injuries.

While the number of traffic crashes on the 13.8-mile corridor between Boise and Emmett has actually decreased since 2004, the combination of a two-lane highway, topography and an increasing number of people in a hurry makes speed-related accidents a recurring problem.

"I don't think accidents are increasing, but it seems like it goes in cycles," Star Fire Chief Kevin Courtney said Tuesday, shortly after returning from the collision. He and his firefighters had to use extrication equipment to cut people out of the wreckage of two vehicles. "It has been a while since we had a bad accident. Then we get two in a week," Courtney said.

According to Idaho Transportation Department statistics, there were 56 traffic crashes on Idaho 16 in 2004. In 2008, there were just 32. As of Nov. 10 this year, the ITD shows 18 accidents. Five people have died along that stretch since 2004.

But two major injury accidents along Idaho 16 since Nov. 3 have prompted Ada County sheriff's officials to send three motorcycle traffic officers to the rural highway this week to remind people to drive safely.

"Our goal is to improve the way people drive on the road - to get them to slow down," Ada County sheriff's spokeswoman Andrea Dearden said. "That's why we have saturation patrols this week - to get people thinking about their speed. We know (those patrols) can have an impact."

Patrick Orr: 373-6619