Nebraska traffic fatalities hit 15-year high in 2022

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) – “Each single crash has a sufferer, and people victims are actually who MADD is right here for.”

MADD, Moms In opposition to Drunk Driving, is a nonprofit group with roots throughout the nation. In Nebraska, they go into the brand new yr confronted with the problem to sort out site visitors fatalities, a quantity that went up by 15% in 2022. 254 folks had been killed final yr and 221 the yr earlier than. That’s 33 extra deaths in Nebraska because of site visitors fatalities.

“We’re all the time disheartened after we see numbers like that. We in the end need that future with no extra victims. So how does MADD assist in that? We proceed to do the work that we do and we up our stage,” mentioned Sara Draper with MADD.

Regardless of the daunting numbers, MADD says they plan to be much more intentional with their work.

“We’re educating our communities about that by plenty of various things. By means of sufferer affect panels, by audio system, by youth empowerment applications,” mentioned Draper. “Among the issues coming down nationally are actually nice to assist scale back impaired driving. The HALT [and] RIDE Act was handed and goes to assist put new know-how into new automobiles.”

MADD works underneath a grant from NDOT and depends on group assist. In addition they provide sufferer companies to households affected by impaired driving.

In accordance with the Nebraska Freeway Security Administrator, it’s for a number of causes.

“The principle contributing components we’re seeing are driver habits or harmful driving habits,” mentioned Invoice Kovarik. “Over 75% will not be carrying a seatbelt…30% of individuals killed in crashes are impaired or one of many drivers are impaired.”

“Our x-ray digital camera tools, it confirmed that round 10% of all drivers on the highway in Nebraska are on their cell telephones whereas driving…10% of the folks you’re assembly on the highway will not be trying the place they’re going. They’re trying some place else,” he mentioned.

Whereas most deadly crashes had been in rural components of Nebraska, the leap in site visitors fatalities this yr was in city areas throughout the state. Inside these areas, it was on native metropolis roads that information reveals extra fatalities occurred from 2021 to 2022.

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