Dodge County sees lowest number of fatal crashes in 17 years

DODGE COUNTY -- In 2018, traffic fatalities from crashes in Dodge County were the lowest in 17 years. Sheriff Dale Schmidt is praising the work of his office for their hard work throughout last year in reducing the harm caused by vehicle crashes.

One year earlier, 2017, was one of the deadliest years on Dodge County roads in recent history -- according to a news release from the Dodge County Sheriff's Office.

In 2017, 20 people died in crashes; 15 in the second half of the year. In 2018, eight people died in crashes.

In an effort to reduce harm caused by vehicle crashes, the Dodge County Sheriff's Office says they took an evidence based/data driven approach, which included reviewing the most current research in this area, identification of high crash areas, targeted enforcement, public education, and high visibility signage.

The sheriff's office set a goal of a 25% -50% reduction in fatal crashes in 2018 compared to the 2017 total.

The results of the efforts were a 60% reduction in fatalities over 2017.

Dodge County officials say 2018 is the lowest annual fatality total recorded in two of their databases, internal and online.

“The men and women of this agency and others who contributed to this effort should be proud of the positive impact they have had on reducing crash fatalities.  No one person is responsible for these results, it was truly a collaborative effort," Sheriff Schmidt said.

Dodge County authorities will continue their efforts to reduce fatal vehicle crashes. They've released a list of tips the public can do to also impact the numbers: