By Abigail Gocek OMAHA, Neb.- Traffic crashes within Omaha, resulting in both fatalities and serious injury, have risen in Omaha. Typically varying by year, the city of Omaha Fatal Crash Dashboard reports over 30 fatal crashes per year since 2022. So far this year, there have been nine confirmed fatal crashes.
This trend escalated last year with an unexpected increase. Daniel Flynn, Lieutenant of Omaha Police Department’s Traffic Unit, says 2024 reached record numbers of fatal crashes.
“Our unit last year, we investigated 59 total crashes and then we had another 177 that resulted in serious injury,” Flynn said. “I don’t think we’ve ever gone over 50.”
According to the City of Omaha website, federal funding has been allocated to investigate stretches of roads around Omaha labeled high-injury corridors. These roads include: Ames Avenue, The urban core from Cuming Street to Leavenworth Street, The Northwest Radial Highway, Military Avenue and West Maple. The website also lists installing pedestrian islands, traffic calming, road diets, and traffic signal improvements as priority projects for the city.
To combat this trend, Mayor Jean Stothert proposed Omaha to become a Vision Zero City years ago. Vision Zero, a movement that began in Sweden during the 1990’s, seeks to eradicate all traffic fatalities. The Omaha Vision Zero Plan was completed in 2023 and approved by the City Council that following November. The goal of Omaha’s Vision Zero is to remove all traffic death and serious injury within Omaha by 2045.
The Vision Zero Plan was modeled after the Safe Systems Approach, which Vision Zero lists as safe road users, safe vehicles, safe speeds, safe roads and post-crash care. Omaha’s Vision Zero Plan condensed this approach into its three main goals: safe speeds, safe users and safe streets. The City of Omaha website lists pedestrian islands, traffic calming, road diets and traffic signal improvements as vital projects to be carried out.
In its first year, Vision Zero set forth a list of initiatives in its first steps towards these goals. These include the creation of the vision zero Omaha committee and a fatal crash committee, the inclusion of traffic safety in the Omaha Police Department’s Vision and Values Statement, and an update of the speed feedback sign policy. In 2025, Vision Zero is working with Omaha Public Schools to create the safe routes to school policy.
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