Iowa’s deadliest counties are targeted for traffic safety program

By: Matt Scher, [email protected]

This story was produced by Matt Kelley of Radio Iowa.

Des Moines, IA – State traffic safety officials are singling out five Iowa counties where crashes, injuries and deaths are the worst to focus efforts on changing driver behaviors and making roads safer. Brett Tjepkes, chief of the Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau, says the initiative is called the High Five Rural Traffic Safety Project and it’s now underway in Appanoose, Fremont, Humboldt, Keokuk and Mitchell counties.

The High Five project involves a three-tier approach, including law enforcement, engineering, and education with the ultimate goal of building safer communities. In the engineering portion, experts from the Iowa D-O-T are teaming up with the Institute for Transportation at Iowa State University.

The education portion of High Five targets drivers of all ages, but also tries to reinforce certain messages with teenagers, before they might form bad driving habits.

A recent study found nearly three-quarters of all deadly crashes in Iowa take place on secondary rural roads, and most of Iowa’s roads are considered secondary. Tjepkes says Iowans have a great national score for seatbelt use, but some people continue to ignore the law.

Last year, 338 people died in traffic accidents on Iowa’s roads, a number that’s down from the past few years. Iowa hasn’t had fewer than 300 traffic deaths in a year since 1925.