2023 Has Been Particularly Deadly on Iowa, Minnesota Roads

With a little more than a month to go on the 2023 calendar, it's beginning to look like this year will go down as one of the deadliest on record for traffic fatalities in both Iowa and Minnesota.

According to the Iowa Department of Transportation, there have been 325 traffic-related deaths in the state through November 15 of this year. That's an increase of nearly percent (8.7%) from this time a year ago and 38 more fatalities than the average since 2018.

With two weeks of November and all of December still to come, Iowa is on pace to have 360 roadway deaths in 2023, which would be the most in the past six years.

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Minnesota's fatalities are also trending higher in 2023.

The state's Department of Transportation is reporting 300 traffic fatalities through the first nine months of 2023. With an average of 110 roadway deaths over the final three months of the year, The number is pacing to give Minnesota more than 400 fatalities for the third straight year.

In South Dakota, there have been 96 deaths so far in 2023, with six weeks remaining on the calendar.

The state's lowest number of fatalities over the past five years was 102 in 2019. The highest was 148 in 2021.