Traffic accident fatalities drop in Cheyenne County

Although rates of traffic fatalities in Nebraska remained virtually identical in 2012 and 2013, the number of alcohol-related fatalities decreased by around 10 percent last year, according to the Nebraska Department of Roads.

In 2012, 43 percent of fatal crashes in the state had suspected alcohol involvement. This was the highest number in 20 years.

Nebraska Office of Highway Safety Administrator Fred Zwonechek hypothesized last year that the numbers could have been anomalies that would return to the usual average of around 30 percent in 2013. The number didn’t quite meet that mark with 65 of 190 fatal crashes in the state having apparent alcohol involvement last year, according to a report by the Nebraska Department of Roads. This means that 34 percent of fatal crashes were alcohol-related.

In these 190 fatal crashes, 211 people were killed. There were 70 people killed in the state in alcohol related crashes in 2013 and 1094 people injured in crashes related to alcohol intake.

It’s hard to pinpoint what led to the decrease in alcohol-related fatalities, Zwonechek said, but those at the state expect that deterrents such as increasing checkpoints are working to bring the numbers down. Zwonechek is hopeful that Nebraska will have zero fatalities with alcohol involvement sometime in the future.

“We certainly know it’s possible because all of these are preventable,” he said.

Last year in Cheyenne County, there were 194 traffic accidents, representing a 12 percent increase in overall accidents in the county. Even though there were more accidents in 2013 than the previous year, there was only one fatal crash resulting in one death in 2013 compared to five deaths in 2012.

One of the 2012 wrecks resulted in the death of four members of the same family as well as an unborn child.

The one death in Cheyenne County in 2013 was 27-year-old Nicholas Schmit of Utah, who died in a motorcycle accident on Highway 30 about a half-mile west of Lodgepole in the early morning hours of June 5. Authorities estimated that the man struck a sign and died of resulting blunt force trauma.

In 2013 there were 50 crashes that resulted in injury in Cheyenne County, with 70 people injured in those accidents.

Zwonechek feels positively about Nebraska’s accident numbers because even though drivers in the state are logging more miles, the general number of fatalities is trending down. There were 212 fatalities in 2012. The number of accidents involving death, injury or significant property damage in the state hovered around 30,000 in both 2012 and 2013.

According to a recent study, 79 percent of people in Nebraska wear their seatbelts, which may indicate it’s that leftover 20 percent who are dying at higher rates in car crashes. Even pushing the usage rate up a few percentage points would mean thousands more drivers wearing restraints, Zwonechek said. The number of people wearing their seatbelts in the state has remained steady for a while, which is frustrating to Zwonechek because of all the evidence that says drivers and passengers are much safer when using restraints. The chances of surviving a crash that would be fatal without a seatbelt rise dramatically for those who are buckled.

Zwonechek is positive that at least 50 percent of those who weren’t wearing a seatbelt and died as a result of their injuries would have survived if buckled.

Anyone who’s not wearing a seatbelt and is pulled over for another violation can recieve an extra $25 ticket for that transgression. Males ages 18-34 tend to be those who don’t wear their seatbelts most often, and therefore most often die in these crashes.

“That’s tragic,” Zwonechek said.

His department continues to push the message that it only takes a second to put on a seatbelt. Some drivers who don’t buckle up say it only affects themselves, but Zwonechek argued that this isn’t true.

“You’ve got family and friends that are going to be paying for your mistakes,” he said.

Zwonechek would like to see lower rates of crashes of any type, in addition to fewer deaths on the roadway. His department is working to get the message of safe driving out any way it can.

“We’re doing as much as we can through the resources we have,” he said.

His department is doing awareness campaigns through radio, TV, newspapers and magazines. The department is also reminding Nebraskans to wear their seatbelts with a message on all event tickets sold in Nebraska this year as well as through social media marketing.

“We try to find little ways to get people to remember,” he said.