Northwest Iowa — Fewer lives were lost on Iowa roadways in 2017 than the year before, and officials are crediting several different factors for the decline
Iowa State Patrol Trooper Vince Kurtz says the current figures show a MAJOR decrease in Iowa traffic deaths compared to 2016.
Trooper Kurtz says it could be quite some time before we see final totals for 2017.
He says that most of the major contributing factors to fatality crashes were down in 2017.
As for the distraction issue, Kurtz noted that since the new Texting While Driving Law went into effect this past July 1st, Iowa State Troopers have issued more than three times as many citations for those violations than were issued during all of 2016.
Sadly, 2018 is off to a quick start for traffic fatalities in Iowa. According to a report from the Iowa State Patrol, there have been at least four fatality crashes during the first four days of the new year.
