Omaha has seen the largest change with a 133% uptick in car-related pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities this year, according to the Nebraska Department of Transportation. The City of Omaha Vision Zero crash dashboard shows there were six fatalities reported in 2023, while 14 fatalities were reported for this year as of October.

Omaha is attempting to combat the increase in deaths with Omaha's Vision Zero plan, an attempt by the city to eliminate traffic deaths and serious injuries by the year 2045.

“In my experience, in my research, I think distraction while driving is probably one of the big causes, and that directly impacts pedestrians,” said Nicholas Sauma, a traffic safety advocate for the Nebraska branch of the National Safety Council.

Bill Kovarik, a Nebraska Highway Safety Administrator with NDOT, added that driver behavior is a key factor.

“It's not, you know, necessarily a construction issue or a vehicle issue,” Kovarik said. “It's the driver has made a decision to do something that caused the crash.”

One proposed way of mitigating distracted driving is by using roundabouts and speed bumps.

“I think the nature of, especially something like a roundabout, is that you're going to have to be engaged just to get into it,” Sauma said. “You’re going to have to maybe think a little bit more. And when you're thinking you're being more intentional about what you're doing whatever that is. And so I do think that can do it. You know, speed bumps even are a simple thing, but it's the same.”

Taylor Sterba, Communications and Outreach Coordinator with the advocacy group Bike Walk, agreed with these methods.

“The main thing is traffic calming and speed management," Sterba said. "If you just put up a speed limit sign, it's not necessarily going to slow down that traffic. Things like roundabouts, speed bumps, pedestrian islands, if you put on street parking and narrow the lanes like that, all are traffic calming measures.”

Sterba also agreed it's going to be a lengthy process to improve pedestrian safety.

“Like there are ways to intentionally reduce these numbers, without large scale or big money projects,” Sterba said. “So there are small ways we can reduce these numbers, and I think we're we have a collective community that is working towards it. But it's not all going to happen in one year. It's going to decrease little by little.”

Sauma wants people to look past the numbers as statistics and remember that each one is someone’s life. He said that while the numbers are disheartening, one positive is that people are noticing and that they want change.

The patrol's gameday initiative came as a result of two grants worth a total of $15,120 from the Nebraska Department of Transportation’s Highway Safety Office. The grants allowed troopers to patrol the roads and highways, conduct surveillance from the air and security in and around Memorial Stadium on the seven home gamedays in Lincoln.

In a press release Monday, the State Patrol also said a total of 456 people were cited for speeding on gamedays. The State Patrol also issued 16 citations against people driving with suspended licenses, 19 citations against those with open containers of alcohol in their vehicles, 12 citations against those not wearing seat belts and eight citations against those who did not properly secure their children.

Troopers also assisted 219 motorists who had mechanical issues with their vehicles.

This year’s DUI arrests on gamedays were significantly down from the 88 arrests in 2023, State Patrol spokesperson Cody Thomas said. Thomas noted the 2023 arrest statistics are skewed with the inclusion of Volleyball Day — when a record 92,003 people attended a volleyball match on Aug. 30, 2023, between the Nebraska Huskers and UNO Mavericks at Memorial Stadium.

This football season’s 54 DUI arrests are more in line with the gamedays in 2021, when 58 people were arrested. Statistics from the 2022 season were not immediately available.

“It takes a team effort to keep game days safe, with partnerships from several public safety agencies and the fans themselves,” Thomas said in an email. “We’d like to thank the vast majority of Husker fans who traveled safely all season long. On gameday or any day, we urge all motorists to drive sober and watch your speed to help keep Nebraska roads safe.”