Pedal to the Metal: Excessive Speeding Is a Real Problem in Iowa
Over the past four years, we have seen so many aspects of our lives change thanks to COVID and all of the things that came with it.
Some of the disruptions to our sense of 'normal' were obvious right away. Others weren't at the time, but are now.
Case in point: Iowa has seen a spike in excessive speeding on the Hawkeye State's highways and byways in recent years, and authorities say the pandemic played a large part in that.
In an interview with the Des Moines Register, Sgt. Alex Dinkla, spokesperson for the Iowa State Patrol, says:
"When we go back to the year 2020, we saw almost a 40% reduction of the amount of vehicles that were on our roadways and that's where we saw a peak."
Translation: fewer cars on the road means more room to drive faster. And those attitudes haven't changed even with traffic back at full capacity.
The numbers bear that out.
In 2023, 1,199 drivers in Iowa were cited for going 100 miles per hour or faster. That's a 75 percent increase over the pre-COVID numbers from 2019 (659 citations issued).
Over the first two months of 2024, there have already been 117 drivers clocked at 100 or more in Iowa.
The state's daily traffic fatality count is more than 20% higher than the five-year average
Those numbers prompted Iowa to join with ten other states for a 2023 Speed Awareness campaign that raised awareness about the dangers of speeding and urged drivers to obey speed limits.
Governor Kim Reynolds' Traffic Safety Bureau has also created the Drive Faster. Die Faster. public service campaign to address the issue.
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