Nebraska has seen a substantial increase in car-related pedestrian deaths in 2024.
Omaha has seen the largest change with a 133% uptick in car-related pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities this year, according to the Nebraska Department of Transportation. The City of Omaha Vision Zero crash dashboard shows there were six fatalities reported in 2023, while 14 fatalities were reported for this year as of October.
Omaha is attempting to combat the increase in deaths with Omaha’s Vision Zero plan, an attempt by the city to eliminate traffic deaths and serious injuries by the year 2045.
“In my experience, in my research, I think distraction while driving is probably one of the big causes, and that directly impacts pedestrians,” said Nicholas Sauma, a traffic safety advocate for the Nebraska branch of the National Safety Council.
Bill Kovarik, a Nebraska Highway Safety Administrator with NDOT, added that driver behavior is a key factor.
“It’s not, you know, necessarily a construction issue or a vehicle issue,” Kovarik said. “It’s the driver has made a decision to do something that caused the crash.”
One proposed way of mitigating distracted driving is by using roundabouts and speed bumps.
“I think the nature of, especially something like a roundabout, is that you’re going to have to be engaged just to get into it,” Sauma said. “You’re going to have to maybe think a little bit more. And when you’re thinking you’re being more intentional about what you’re doing whatever that is. And so I do think that can do it. You know, speed bumps even are a simple thing, but it’s the same.”
Taylor Sterba, Communications and Outreach Coordinator with the advocacy group Bike Walk, agreed with these methods.
“The main thing is traffic calming and speed management,” Sterba said. “If you just put up a speed limit sign, it’s not necessarily going to slow down that traffic. Things like roundabouts, speed bumps, pedestrian islands, if you put on street parking and narrow the lanes like that, all are traffic calming measures.”
Sterba also agreed it’s going to be a lengthy process to improve pedestrian safety.
“Like there are ways to intentionally reduce these numbers, without large scale or big money projects,” Sterba said. “So there are small ways we can reduce these numbers, and I think we’re we have a collective community that is working towards it. But it’s not all going to happen in one year. It’s going to decrease little by little.”
Sauma wants people to look past the numbers as statistics and remember that each one is someone’s life. He said that while the numbers are disheartening, one positive is that people are noticing and that they want change.