Why are there so many fatal accidents lately?

Like mass shootings, fatal car and motorcycle accidents are on the increase. I have watched for over 40 years and can attest to dramatic increase in how many people are dying on the roads in Iowa. No one can be in any one industry this long and not have some opinions about what is going on.

I don’t think there is much difference between those numbers around central Iowa and those in rural Iowa. I do read most of the Iowa State Patrol’s Crash Reports. Today they show 12 different accidents with at least one death. The counties include Dallas, Jones, Plymouth, Jasper, Warren, Harrison, Clarke, Marion, Adair, Plymouth again, Dubuque and Pottawattamie.

The one in Dallas has a 16-year-old driver from Waukee (Judah K. Nobel) crossing the center line and crashing head-on into a 39-year-old motorcycle rider from Ankeny. Jared J. Eklund. I knew when I read it the conclusion would include the phrase “collision still under investigation”. Blood work to check for alcohol, drugs and a subpoena will go out for the phone records. The Harley Davidson motorcycle rider had no chance here.

Let’s be careful out there.

I see this type of collision more and more and more. It is either crossing over the center line or else running off the hard surface, onto the shoulder and then off into a tree or farm field or worse.

We need only go to the second report out of Jones County and we find Supple from Cascade crossing the center line in his Navigator and crashing head-on into Ricky Larkey of Hiawatha. (He is 58.) Supple died.

If we then read the Harrison County report, we see the driver lost control and a twenty-two year old, Thomas Peasley being listed as a fatality. Hard to tell anything about this accident, at least from the report. There is another injured person, Michael Rodgriquez, 24 years old, but no indication of who was driving. Here is the Trooper’s summary: “UNIT 1 WAS DRIVING NORTH BOUND ON KELLY AVE NEAR 180TH TRAIL WHEN IT LOST CONTROL AND LEFT THE ROADWAY UNIT 1 ROLLED MULTIPLE TIMES BEFORE LANDING ON ITS DRIVER SIDE INTO THE WEST DITCH ALCOHOL IS BELIEVED TO BE A FACTOR IN THIS ACCIDENT THE CRASH IS STILL UNDER INVESTIGATION OFFICER NAME: TROOPER MANDY MESECK . POST: 4”

Alcohol and Texting, two deadly forces

The Clarke County, Marion County, Dubuque County accidents all include an element of a loss of control. So, one would have to know why or at least the likely cause of the loss of control, before liability could be established on the part of the driver. Cell phones are a Godsent, but only when used in a responsible way. Is it possible these drivers were texting? Probably. We have a suspicion one driver was drinking, we just don’t know which one was driving. We used to be able to get away with so much more than anyone can today.

As Sergeant Phil Esterhaus from Hill Street Blues used to tell his fellow officers after rollcall, “Let’s be careful out there.”

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