UPPER SIOUX COMMUNITY — Fatal and serious, life-changing accidents rose by 24 percent through the three pandemic years, but there’s encouraging news.
Serious traffic crashes in Minnesota and the state’s southwestern region are trending downward, according to information presented at the Toward Zero Deaths workshop May 11 at the Prairie’s Edge Casino Resort.
“Not good things happened,” said Ken Johnson, assistant state traffic engineer with the Minnesota Department of Transportation , as he provided data on the three years of increased serious accidents at the workshop.
Fatal and serious crashes in Minnesota rose to 488 in 2021 and dropped to 444 in 2022. The increase is believed to be pandemic-related as driver behaviors changed.
An increase in the number of impaired drivers, unbelted occupants and increased speed are believed to be the biggest factors in the increased number of crashes.
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The encouraging news is that at this point, the fatality rate appears on a trend for a 20 percent decline this year, according to information presented.
While there are signs that the number of fatal and seriously injured motorists are trending down, that’s not necessarily the case for one subset of motorists. Joan Somes with the Emergency Nurses Association highlighted a trend toward more older drivers being killed and seriously injured while driving motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles as well as while bicycling.
Somes has seen the consequences firsthand. She has 49 years of nursing experience, 40 of those years as a bedside nurse in emergency care. She currently teaches at Regions Hospital in St. Paul and is working with the state to reduce the number of crashes involving older drivers.
She told her audience that in 2011, drivers ages 55 and older represented 23 percent of motorcycle fatalities. In 2020, the share of older drivers in fatal motorcycle crashes represented 27 percent of the deaths, a 37 percent increase.
One reason for the increase is that the number of older motorcycle drivers is increasing as the elderly population grows. There are more baby boomers hitting the roads on motorcycles.
Also, older drivers are far more likely to suffer serious injuries or lose their lives when involved in accidents. Older bodies are more fragile.
That vulnerability should behoove older drivers to wear helmets and protective clothing and gear, but that is not always happening. Somes provided attendees with information on the physical reasons that older, unprotected drivers are likely to suffer fatal or life-changing injuries when involved in crashes.
Somes said older drivers also need to recognize that their physical and cognitive abilities are in decline. Too many older drivers are riding motorcycles that are too large for them to physically handle, and that also puts them at risk of greater injury when they tip or the machine lands on them in a crash.
The importance of wearing protective gear was highlighted at the conference as Minnesota State Patrol Capt. Casey Meagher announced the recognition of Lonnie Mercie, of Vesta, for the “Saved by the Helmet” award for the past year. Mercie was on his way to work on his motorcycle in Redwood County when he struck a deer and heard a prolonged screech of what sounded like metal scraping the roadway.
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Mercie thought the agonizing sound was the damage being done to his motorcycle, Meagher said, but soon realized that sound was his helmet. It would have been his head scraping against the roadway, and he would not be alive today, had he not been wearing it, the officer told the audience.
Meagher said Mercie told him that prior to the crash, he did not always wear a helmet or protective gear. He liked to let the air blow through his hair, said the officer, but donned the gear that day due to the weather.
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