In 2024, 43 people were killed on Omaha’s roads, 12 more than the previous year.
In 2023, the city pledged to eliminate fatalities on Omaha roads. In the year since, Molly Hudson, a central Omaha neighborhood reporter, has spoken with neighbors and city leaders about the goal’s viability.
Voices from various neighborhoods.
“Speeding and flying down, racing and all that stuff,” said Steve Wesley, a resident of Northwest Radial Highway, in 2023.
We share the same concern for road safety.
“My son is in second grade is he ever going to be able to walk to school alone?” said Amelia Rosser, the owner of Sheelytown Market.
Right now, the city’s Vision Zero plan aims to eliminate fatalities and serious injuries on Omaha roads by 2045.
“This is a long-term plan; there will always be ups and downs,” says Jeff Sobczyk, the City of Omaha’s Vision Zero coordinator.
While zero represents hope, it appears to be out of reach for some.
“If we can’t look to 2025 and keep some vision, I don’t see how the next 20 years will make a difference,” said Pat Venditte, owner of Cornhusker Driving School.
Venditte has been teaching teenagers to drive at Cornhusker Driving School since the 1960s.
But this year, he’s noticed something new.
Students are reluctant because they are concerned about their 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,” he said.
According to the City of Omaha’s Vision Zero team, 43 people died on Omaha streets in 2024. This is up from 31 the previous year.
“It makes me very sad to hear that people are losing loved ones due to the carelessness of others,” said Abigail Schmidt, a Cornhusker Driving School student.
“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 pointed out.
However, as a teacher of the next generation of drivers, Venditte believes that something more needs 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 declared.