Iowa highway fatalities trending closer to normal for 2017

Following last year's spike in highway fatalities - the first time deaths on Iowa roads surpassed 400 in eight years - Iowa now is trending closer to normal.

Iowa has recorded 139 roadway deaths so far this year, compared to 174 at this time last year, according to the Iowa Department of Transportation.

That number also puts 2017 nine fatalities lower than the five-year average.

Public safety officials across the state hope to keep that trend going this coming Fourth of July, a holiday notorious for vehicle collisions - many of which are caused by impaired driving.

'July Fourth is a very high traffic period, and also it is unfortunately a very high crash period,” said Patrick Hoye, a former Iowa State Patrol chief who leads the Governor's Traffic Safety Bureau. 'Not only are we having large traffic flows and higher (number of) crashes, but of those crashes more so are alcohol related.”

Thanks to the Iowa Governor's Traffic Safety Bureau's holiday traffic enforcement project, which provides added funds for officer overtime pay, an expanded police presence will be out this weekend.

'With school being out and people taking vacations, our anticipation is the traffic volume will be pretty high over that period of time,” Iowa State Patrol spokesman Alex Dinkla said. 'We'll be out with extra patrols trying to keep motorists safe during that time.”

Also helping to reduce crashes will be a new Sobriety 24/7 law - which increases monitoring for impaired-driving offenders - and changes to the state's distracted-driving law that allow police to pull over and fine motorists who are texting, Hoye said.

Both laws, which stem from statewide conversations following last year's high number of traffic fatalities, go into effect July 1.

The 139 highway fatalities in Iowa as of June 29 this year is 35 fewer roadway deaths compared to this time last year and nine less than the five-year average for midway through the year, according to the Iowa Department of Transportation.

'That is certainly trending in the right direction,” Hoye said. 'What we're seeing is about where we anticipated. Really, when we look back at 2016, it was just a horrible year.”

Last year saw a total 405 people die on Iowa roads, which marked a nearly 27 percent increase over 2015 and the most since 2008.

The spike in traffic deaths also broke a four-year downward movement in Iowa road fatalities. In addition, last year came just three years after Iowa saw 317 fatal crashes in 2013 - the lowest in 70 years.

Iowa motorcycle fatalities reached 60 last year, the first time since 2010.

Hoye and others, such as Iowa DOT traffic and safety engineer Willy Sorenson, continue to sift through 2016's crash and fatality data, looking for anything that may have attributed to the spike in traffic deaths. But it's possible there was no singular cause for the increase.

'It just seemed like an across-the-board increase, with no silver bullet or smoking gun understanding of what's happening,” Sorenson said.

But that doesn't mean action isn't being taken.

In addition to changes to state texting and impaired driving rules, Iowa's Move Over or Slow Down law has been expanded from police cars, firetrucks and ambulances to now include utility vehicles such as garbage, tow and bucket trucks.

The new rule goes into effect Saturday.

Meanwhile, the Iowa DOT has been making changes to increase safety at work zones.

Last year saw 13 work zone fatalities, marking the first time work zone deaths reached double digits since 2010 and the highest in a single year since 1999, according to Iowa DOT data.

Iowa has seen five work zone deaths so far this year, according to data.

Sorenson said mobile rumble strips placed at work zones help raise driver awareness, and a new emphasis on keeping multiple interstate lanes open during construction - such as on Interstate 380 near 15th and 16th avenues SW in Cedar Rapids - should help reduce the chance for collisions.

'Whatever we can do to reduce our chances of those happening, that is really our goal - to minimize the amount of opportunities for crashes,” Sorenson said.

Gazette reporter Lee Hermiston contributed to this report.

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