(Spirit Lake)– There’s good news to report when it comes to traffic fatalities in Iowa as we wrap up 2025. Kevin Krull of the Iowa State Patrol says we appear to be on track to meet a major milestone…
“Traffic fatalities, potentially, knock on wood, one of those years where we’re going to for the first time in a hundred years, get under the 300 mark which has been our goal and we were at 255 the last time I checked which was the other day. We stand to be in a good spot to obtain that goal but I don’t want to jinx us.”
Krull sites one factor in particular for the reduced fatalities…
“When I look back at the numbers monthly, June was the first significant really step back on that. That was when we started talking a lot about the new law with the hands free and not being able to use your cell phone for anybody on the roadways. We started talking about it and in July we started stopping people and issuing warnings for it. Come January 1st we’re going to continue that stopping people but it’s going to come with a fine and that fine’s going to be $100 plus costs. So there will be tickets starting to be issued January 1st and with 9,500 warnings already issued since July, I think people need to do better and understand it’s going to cost money, but that’s when we saw our first significant decrease in our fatality numbers, so I think that the passing of that law probably had an impact.”
Krull says they’re hoping to carry the trend through 2026.
Unfortunately there was traffic fatality Christmas Day in northwest Iowa. The Iowa State Patrol says a 75-year-old woman from Mapleton died in a crash that happened in Monona county. Troopers say dense fog was a factor.
