APRIL 6, 2015
VALLEY, NEBRASKA
The Douglas County, NE Sheriff's office confirmed Monday morning
that a fourth person died from a crash Sunday night near Valley. Two others
were injured.
The accident happened at 252nd & Highway 36. A
preliminary account revealed that a 2003 Dodge Ram with two juveniles from
Sarpy County was northbound on 252nd Street when the driver ran a stop sign. It
collided with an eastbound 2011 Chevrolet Tahoe.
The force of the impact pushed the Tahoe into a 2011 Buick
Enclave which was traveling westbound.
Two people in the Enclave and two people in the Tahoe were
killed. The two people in the Ram survived. Charges are pending on the teen
driver until the crash investigation can be completed.
Killed in the Tahoe were 40-year-old Amber A. Wood of
Kennard and 49-year-old Jason D. Miller of Valley. Killed in the Enclave were
57-year-old John Prusa and 55-year-old Dorine Prusa of Howells.
The original 911 call went out around 8:30 p.m. A call for a
LifeNet helicopter was first canceled, then responders asked for dispatch to
resend the helicopter.
This same location is the spot where Ryan Boehlman was
killed in a crash involving a semi-truck and a pickup in September 2014. That
crash happened in the early morning, but investigators tell WOWT 6 News the
intersection can be especially dangerous at night.
"It's dark. There's no lights," Sgt. Thomas said.
"If you're unfamiliar with the area-- I'm not saying anyone involved in
this was-- but this intersection can creep up on you."
Source: http://www.wowt.com
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UNITED STATES STILL HAS ONE OF THE HIGHEST ROAD ACCIDENT DEATH AND INJURY RATES IN THE WORLD: 34,000 DIE AND 2.5 MILLION INJURED EACH YEAR.
Despite the improvements in road safety, the United States has one of the highest death rates at about 1 person dead per 10,000 people. Unfortunately, only undeveloped countries have higher death rate.
Some states, such as Texas and West Virginia (sorry, WV, despite your tremendous progress in traffic safety, you are still at the top of the worst-death-rate list) have death rates of nearly 1.5 percent, i.e., fifty percent more people die compared to the national death rate.
Approximately 34,000 people are getting killed each year. In the 1950s and 1960s, about 55,000 people used to die on the roads – so, there has been improvement in the number of dead.
However, the number of injured is rising. Roughly 2.5 million are injured (yes, you read it correctly – 2.5 million injured) per year. That is, 1 percent (1%) of the population that is eligible to drive is injured every year.
It is worse than a war zone out there.
So, please be safe and be on the lookout for weaving-through-the-traffic drivers, crazy drivers, reckless drivers, sick drivers, medical-condition drivers, sleepy drivers, negligent drivers, stupid drivers, careless drivers, drunk drivers, speeding drivers, drugged drivers, texting drivers, talking-on-the-phone drivers, looking-at-the-GPS drivers, hurry-hurry drivers, tailgating drivers, upset drivers, eating-while-driving drivers, putting-the-lipstick-on-while-driving drivers, elderly drivers, and so on.