DES MOINES (AP) — Transportation officials say there’s a spike in traffic fatalities in Iowa this year, and there’s no driving force behind the jump.
Data from the Iowa Department of Transportation show at least 238 traffic fatalities recorded between the start of the year and the middle of August. There were 182 traffic fatalities during the same period last year.
“The change is huge,” said Steve Gent, the department’s director of traffic and safety.
There’s no specific reason for the jump, according to Gent. Still, he noted some possible factors: More people are driving Iowa roads and they’re driving more miles, in part because the price of gasoline has decreased in recent years.
There have been roughly 320 traffic fatalities every year in Iowa between 2013 and 2015. Gent said the department expects this year’s final tally to top that.
“There’s no way it’ll be below or near 320 ... we can’t make that up in the last four and a half months of the year,” he said.
Pat Hoye, bureau chief for the Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau, said despite no clear answer to the data, there is room for improvement. He said about 30 percent of traffic fatalities involve impaired driving, and over 40 percent involve people not using seat belts. That’s despite a compliance rate for seat belt use that tops 90 percent.
The number of fatal crashes related to distracted driving has also increased, according to the non-partisan Legislative Services Agency. They used DOT data to show 11 traffic fatalities in 2015 were linked to distracted driving by phone or other device. That’s up from five in 2014.
Gent said it’s hard to gauge the accuracy of the data since the form used to report distracted driving has been updated in recent years, making it easier to report cases.
The department has no immediate plans to respond to the surge in traffic fatalities. Gent said the state has a longstanding campaign aimed at safe driving that utilizes physical message boards and social media to show people “how dangerous it truly is to drive” and “to take it more seriously.”