OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — In 2024, 43 people have been killed on Omaha roads, 12 more than the previous year.
In 2023, the city committed to a plan to eliminate deaths on Omaha roads. In the year since, central Omaha neighborhood reporter Molly Hudson talked with neighbors and city leaders about the goal and its viability.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Voices from across our neighborhoods…
"Speeding and flying down, racing and all that stuff," said Steve Wesley in 2023, who lives along Northwest Radial Highway.
Sharing in the same concern -- safety on our roads.
"My son is in second grade is he ever going to be able to walk to school alone?" said Amelia Rosser, owner of Sheelytown Market.
Right now -- we have Vision Zero, the city's plan to eliminate fatalities and serious injuries on Omaha roads by 2045.
"This is a long-term plan, there is always going to be ups and downs," Jeff Sobczyk, Vision Zero coordinator for the City of Omaha.
While zero is the hope -- for some it seems out of reach.
"If we can't look at 2025 and maintain some vision there, I don't see how the next 20 years is going to make a difference,” said Pat Venditte, owner of Cornhusker Driving School.
Venditte has been teaching teens to drive at Cornhusker Driving School since the 60’s.
But this year, he's seeing something new.
Students are reluctant -- worried about safety.
"They get behind the wheel of the car and they are nervous from a perspective that shouldn't be and that's the collateral damage that these drivers are causing," Venditte said.
According to the City of Omaha's Vision Zero team, 43 people have been killed on Omaha streets in 2024. That is up from 31 from the previous year.
"It like makes me very sad to hear that people are losing their loved ones to careless actions from others,” said Abigail Schmidt, a student at Cornhusker Driving School.
"If the public knew that there was a high probability that if they were caught speeding, driving impaired, that they are going to get caught,” Venditte said.
But from his perspective, teaching the next generation of drivers, Venditte says something more has to change.
"I hope in the wisdom of our leaders, at the national level or at the local level that just maybe this might come to fruition," Venditte said.
