Iowa again misses its goal for reducing traffic deaths

Traffic fatalities in Iowa are higher than they’ve been at this time of the year for at least the previous five years — with more than 300 people killed so far, already surpassing the target that officials had hoped not to exceed this entire year.

The average number of traffic fatalities by Oct. 23 in the past five years is 268, but this year there have been 301, according to Iowa’s daily fatality count.

The number of traffic fatalities so far actually could be higher than what’s been recorded online by the state, since roadway deaths are considered traffic-related if they occur within 30 days of a crash. Two deaths also occurred Sunday and Monday in Iowa — one of a firefighter who died after two fire vehicles crashed into each other near Ionia, and the other of a 25-year-old who drove off the road early Monday in Davenport.

The Iowa State Patrol sets an annual goal of 300 or fewer traffic deaths in Iowa — a goal that the state hasn’t met since 1925, when Iowa reported 261 fatalities, The Gazette previously reported.

“We can’t seem to get it below 300 without the buy-in from the motoring public,” said Bob Conrad, the public resource officer for the Iowa State Patrol. “I don’t think people think it’ll ever be them. And until you’ve had a fatality in your family, until a trooper has knocked on your door, I don’t think you understand how serious this is and that it could happen to you or your family member.”

Conrad said it’s hard to nail down specific reasons for the increase in deaths this year, but there are a lot of factors that can come into play.

There has been an increase in motorcyclist deaths, with 59 deaths so far this year, compared with 49 in all of 2022. There also has been an increase in all-terrain and utility task vehicle deaths in the past couple years, after a new law went into effect in 2022 that allows those vehicles to drive on roads in all of Iowa’s 99 counties.

Conrad said high speeds are also an important factor in traffic deaths.

“We have had good weather. I think more people are traveling, and we know they’re traveling at higher speeds,” Conrad said. “There is a trend of people driving faster in their vehicles, and the faster you go, the more likely you are to die. That’s just a fact … Every day on Interstate 80 there are speeds by multiple vehicles in the hundreds.”

Of the 301 fatalities, 97 people were not wearing a seat belt when they were killed. There were 87 people killed with seat belts, 26 where seat belt usage is not known, and 91 where seat belts were not applicable to the person killed, like with motorcyclist and pedestrian deaths.

There have been 19 pedestrian deaths so far this year, slightly up from 17 pedestrian deaths during all of last year, but down from 32 in 2021 and 30 in 2020.

Bills have been proposed to the Iowa Legislature almost every year for the past few years that would ban all usage of phones except hand-free uses while driving. Public safety officials say such a ban would be a vital step in reducing distracted driving.

Texting while driving was banned in 2017 in the state, and nearly 1,400 citations for violators were expected in fiscal 2023, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Service Agency. A bill to ban other phone usage that’s not hands-free has yet to pass, however. It passed the Iowa Senate during the 2023 legislative session, but didn’t advance out of the Transportation Committee in the House.

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