West Des Moines closed 2010 with twice as many traffic deaths as 2008 and 2009 combined, but police see no pattern in the fatal crashes, which happened all over the city.
“They were kind of spread out, and there wasn’t any one particular place where they occurred,” West Des Moines police Lt. Jim Barrett said. “There’s not even two in the same place.”
It was the deadliest of the past five years. There were four fatal accidents in West Des Moines in 2006, and four again in 2007.
In 2008, only one person was killed on the roads in West Des Moines city limits — a pedestrian who was hit on Interstate Highway 235.
Two were killed in 2009 — a motorcyclist who hit a deer in the 800 block of S. First Street and a driver whose vehicle was struck by a vehicle driven the wrong way on I-35.
In 2010, the number of fatal crashes jumped to eight, and they’ve all been since the beginning of June.
June 6: A 54-year-old Des Moines man was killed when he was thrown from his motorcycle while entering I-35 southbound and was hit by a semi.
June 19: A 55-year-old man from El Paso, Ill., was killed when his motorcycle crossed the median of I-80 into oncoming traffic and struck another vehicle in the eastbound lanes.
July 21: A 55-year-old man from State Center lost control of his motorcycle on the western Mixmaster and crashed as he tried to go from southbound I-35 to westbound I-80.
Aug. 7: A 38-year-old West Des Moines man was killed when he was driving northbound on 42nd Street, crossed the center line and ran head on into another vehicle.
Aug. 23: A 21-year-old Kansas man, a baseball player at Wichita University, was killed when his southbound vehicle crossed the median of I-35 and ran into a northbound semi-trailer.
Sept. 6: A 33-year-old Des Moines man was killed when his vehicle, westbound on I-235, took the exit ramp at 50th Street too fast and struck a concrete barrier on the west side of 50th.
Oct. 7: A 75-year-old Las Vegas woman was killed when sport utility vehicle rear-ended her slowed or stopped car in the triangle between the onramp and the eastbound lanes of I-235 at 50th Street.
Nov. 20: A 47-year-old West Des Moines man — Feisal Sayeed, a vice president at CB Richard Ellis/Hubbell Commercial and local civic leader — was killed when his sport utility vehicle left Highway 5 and rolled.
Six of 2010′s eight fatal crashes were on one of the big highways or interstates in West Des Moines, which makes sense to Barrett.
“The number of cars and the higher rate of speed leads to more serious crashes,” he said.
The first fatality of 2011 happened Sunday night on Grand Avenue, when a 43-year-old West Des Moines man crashed a car into a utility pole near the intersection of Grand and Vine Street.
Provided By: desmoinesregister.com
“They were kind of spread out, and there wasn’t any one particular place where they occurred,” West Des Moines police Lt. Jim Barrett said. “There’s not even two in the same place.”
It was the deadliest of the past five years. There were four fatal accidents in West Des Moines in 2006, and four again in 2007.
In 2008, only one person was killed on the roads in West Des Moines city limits — a pedestrian who was hit on Interstate Highway 235.
Two were killed in 2009 — a motorcyclist who hit a deer in the 800 block of S. First Street and a driver whose vehicle was struck by a vehicle driven the wrong way on I-35.
In 2010, the number of fatal crashes jumped to eight, and they’ve all been since the beginning of June.
June 6: A 54-year-old Des Moines man was killed when he was thrown from his motorcycle while entering I-35 southbound and was hit by a semi.
June 19: A 55-year-old man from El Paso, Ill., was killed when his motorcycle crossed the median of I-80 into oncoming traffic and struck another vehicle in the eastbound lanes.
July 21: A 55-year-old man from State Center lost control of his motorcycle on the western Mixmaster and crashed as he tried to go from southbound I-35 to westbound I-80.
Aug. 7: A 38-year-old West Des Moines man was killed when he was driving northbound on 42nd Street, crossed the center line and ran head on into another vehicle.
Aug. 23: A 21-year-old Kansas man, a baseball player at Wichita University, was killed when his southbound vehicle crossed the median of I-35 and ran into a northbound semi-trailer.
Sept. 6: A 33-year-old Des Moines man was killed when his vehicle, westbound on I-235, took the exit ramp at 50th Street too fast and struck a concrete barrier on the west side of 50th.
Oct. 7: A 75-year-old Las Vegas woman was killed when sport utility vehicle rear-ended her slowed or stopped car in the triangle between the onramp and the eastbound lanes of I-235 at 50th Street.
Nov. 20: A 47-year-old West Des Moines man — Feisal Sayeed, a vice president at CB Richard Ellis/Hubbell Commercial and local civic leader — was killed when his sport utility vehicle left Highway 5 and rolled.
Six of 2010′s eight fatal crashes were on one of the big highways or interstates in West Des Moines, which makes sense to Barrett.
“The number of cars and the higher rate of speed leads to more serious crashes,” he said.
The first fatality of 2011 happened Sunday night on Grand Avenue, when a 43-year-old West Des Moines man crashed a car into a utility pole near the intersection of Grand and Vine Street.
Provided By: desmoinesregister.com
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