COVINGTON, Ky. — Kentucky saw the highest number of deadly highway crashes since 2016, according to the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet.
“We don’t want anyone to get a visit from law enforcement at 2 a.m. giving them bad news,” said Bill Bell, KYTC’s office of highway safety executive.
In 2023, 813 people did get that bad news that a loved one was killed in a crash, according to KYTC data.
In Northern Kentucky, that same data shows 53 people died in a crash.
It’s why KYTC added a “Memorial Lane” section to its website to honor those who died.
It’s also working to prevent future deaths.
"Basically we're trying to work ourselves out of a job here." Bell said. "In all these crashes, there's one tool that can help and that's wearing your seat belt."
KYTC said in 51% of last year’s crashes, the driver or passengers weren’t wearing one.
In 2023, KYTC partnered with state and local law enforcement to target five counties with the lowest seat belt usage.
This year, they plan to target five counties again and are working to identify them now.
It’s not the only strategy KYTC is implementing to reduce crashes. It plans to get out into the community and talk with Kentuckians about what they think needs to be done to make roads safer.
"You're never going to know what your efforts have done to prevent fatalities and serious injuries on roadways. We believe that our efforts do prevent these tragic consequences,” Bell said.
So far this year, KYTC said deadly crashes are down compared to this time last year. But the cabinet’s goal is to get to zero deadly crashes.
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