The Iowa State Patrol Wants You To Make Roads Safer

The Iowa State Patrol recorded 319 driving deaths on Iowa roads last year. In 79 of those deaths the person wasn't wearing a seat belt. This year the Iowa State Patrol's New Year's resolution is to have less than 300 deaths on Iowa roadways. This according to WQAD.com. Troopers hope you and I can help make Iowa roads safer.

Trooper Dan Loussaert told WQAD:

"The most dangerous thing we all do every day is get into a vehicle and travel somewhere."

One of the things officers see every day that would prevent accidents is people using their turn signal. Additionally, as the numbers show, wearing your seat belt gives you much greater odds to survive a car wreck than if you don't. "Most of our crashes are caused by mistakes or bad choices and they could have been prevented," Loussaert told WQAD.

Mistakes happen. Bad choices can be prevented. Yesterday I talked about how the Illinois State Police will be cracking down on left lane scofflaws and focusing on what they call the "fatal four violations": DUI, distracted driving, speeding, and not wearing your seat belt.

Once again, reading between the lines, here's what the cops are saying:  Don't drive distracted (by your phone, radio, anything.) Don't Speed. Wear your seat belt. Use your blinkers. And don't get behind the wheel when you've been drinking. In other words, don't make bad choices. If we all do this, maybe we can keep traffic fatalities under 300 in the State of Iowa.  You may also be able to walk away from a mistake you make behind the wheel. That's certainly better than being wheeled away from the accident scene on a stretcher.