DES MOINES, Iowa — It’s a milestone no one wants to celebrate. There have been 358 lives lost so far in 2023 due to traffic related deaths – an almost 13% increase from the five year average.
Sgt. Alex Dinkla, public information officer with the Iowa State Patrol, says many of these crashes and deaths are preventable.
“Close to 60% of the people that have been killed so far this year did not wear a seatbelt,” Sgt. Dinkla said. “You know, it’s very tragic when we look at different crashes that happen out there. Maybe four or five different people are involved in a crash and you see multiple people walk away, but the one person that was killed was killed because they were ejected out of the vehicle and ultimately run over by the vehicle.”
The reasons behind the sharp increase in traffic deaths vary, but distractions behind the wheel remain a major trend.
“One of the big things that we’ve been seeing is intersection related crashes at high speed,” Sgt. Dinkla said. “We can attribute that to a number of different things, people just being in a hurry, getting in a rush, pulling out in front of people. But also there is a little correlation between that and another thing that we’re seeing, and that is lane departures and why all of those lane departures are happening.”
A main reason – the use of cell phones behind the wheel causing drivers to be distracted and taking their eyes off of the road.
In 2023, the Iowa State Patrol backed legislation that would make Iowa hands free behind the wheel. Ultimately, the legislation did not pass, but Sgt. Dinkla says the goal is still a priority of the departments.
Dinkla says there is still cause for concern as Iowa has seen a mild winter this year with no major snow storms, which typically lead to an increase in crashes.
“Weather is a fear because typically that first snowstorm that we see here in Iowa, we see a large increase of crashes,” Sgt. Dinkla said. “And then throughout the winter months and then the first of the year, we start to see a decrease in some of those crashes when we have some significant snows because people are getting accustomed again to how to operate their vehicles in those first snows.”
When looking at the numbers on the Iowa DOT’s website, fatalities in the ATV/UTV category has jumped to 11 deaths so far in 2023, from only four deaths in all of 2021, as legislation now allows these types of vehicles on certain roads.
Overall, Dinkla says it’s important for drivers to take responsibility while behind the wheel to keep themselves and others safe.
