(Denison) Iowa State Patrol Trooper and Public Information Officer Shelby McCreedy said 44 people died on Iowa roadways in July. The highest number of fatalities in a single month since September 2017.
“Speed is the number one contributor to date of fatality and serious injury crashes,” said Trooper McCreedy. “And even if there is a secondary cause, for example, failure to stop for a stop sign, we’re not talking normal speeds going through these stop signs, we’re talking about excessive speeds for secondary violations. So speed is by far the number one cause for fatal and serious injury crashes.”
Trooper McCreedy says across the Midwest speeds increased during the Pandemic. “Excessive speed became as much of an epidemic as COVID,” said McCreedy.
McCreedy pointed out that surrounding states experienced an increase in fatality accidents almost immediately, while Iowa did not. “Iowa, on the other hand, experienced a reduction of fatal crashes during the majority of the pandemic,” explained McCreedy. “But unfortunately, that trend no longer exists here in Iowa.”
