(Radio Iowa) – Traffic deaths in Iowa continue to be trending above the record low recorded last year. The D-O-T’s Stuart Anderson gave the state Transportation Commission an update at their workshop Monday. “We are at 73 fatalities year to date (April 13th). And that is 15 over last year, year to date, and seven more than the five-year average,” Anderson says.
January traffic deaths were up seven compared to last year, and March deaths were 30 compared to just 17 last year. “January was a challenging month. March also certainly was a challenging month with those numbers. And we’re seeing those being driven by fatalities with younger drivers and older drivers,” he says. Anderson says it’s too early to say traffic deaths will end up above last year.
“These trends are more meaningful longer term, so we don’t want to react too much just based on kind of the data we have so far this year, but we certainly hope that these numbers start getting on the trend we saw last year more,” Anderson says. The state saw a record low 258 traffic deaths in 2025.
