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Iowa motorcycle deaths don’t drop as much as the national rate

April 22, 2010 By

Motorcycle deaths in Iowa declined in 2009, but not as significantly as the drop nationwide. The number of Americans who died in motorcycle crashes last year dropped at least 10% from the year before. Scott Falb of the Iowa Department of Transportation keeps track of the number of motorcycle crash fatalities.

“Iowa saw a decline, but it wasn’t quite 10 percent,” Falb says. “We went down from 53 in 2008 to 49 in 2009.” That’s a seven percent drop. The Governors Highway Safety Association says the bad economy kept many from riding their motorcycles as much last year, and that was the major factor in the drop in motorcycle fatalities. Falb saw another factor at work in Iowa: the unseasonably cool summer weather in 2009.

“Our 49 (motorcycle) fatalities weren’t very evenly disbursed over the summer,” Falb says. “We had whole two week periods where nobody died and then we would have several the next week when the weather was better.” Nice, sunny days are better for motorcycle riding than cool, rainy days according Falb, a motorcyclist who’s been caught “once of twice” in rainstorm.

“If you’ve ever been on a motorcycle or seen motorcyclists in the rest room wringing out their clothes because they got caught in a shower, you know it’s not a fun thing to be doing,” Falb says. “You not only get soaked from the rain, but you get soaked from the splatter of other vehicles.”

The high price of gasoline and the recession haven’t prompted many Iowans to opt for a fuel-conserving motorcycle or a scooter as their primary source of transportation according to Falb. Just over a third of the motorcycles registered in Iowa last year were Harley Davidsons.

“Those are all 1,000-cc or larger engines and to kind of give you a perspective on that, until recently I had a Honda Civic that had a 1,500-cc engine in it and that’s a four-wheel sedan,” Falb says. “So these are large engines on these vehicles.” Falb says another 30% of the motorcycle market is made up of Gold Wings or Silver Wings, made by Honda. The high-end bikes cost up to $20,000 dollars or more, which is the price of a medium-sized car.

There were five motorcycle fatalities in Iowa in the first two week of April. “That’s never a good sign when we lose that many, especially since we had three in one weekend,” Falb says. “So we want people that drive four-wheel vehicles to make sure that they are looking for two-wheel vehicles whether they’re motorcycles or bicyclists because bicyclists are also out on our roadways now.”

Over half of motorcycle crashes are single-vehicle accidents, however, where the motorcyclist loses control. “So we want motorcyclists to keep your speed down, to ride sober and know your route — anticipate where the curves are — and wear your protection,” Falb says. “Wear your helmet and wear protective clothing because we lose far fewer helmeted motorcyclists than we do helmeted motorcyclists.”

None of the people who have died in motorcycle crashes so far this year in Iowa were wearing a helmet.

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters Tagged With:

DNR trying to find cause of gasoline spill in Centerville

April 22, 2010 By

Officials are trying to determine what caused an estimated 3,000 gallons of gasoline to leak out of an underground tank in the southern Iowa town of Centerville. Workers at a Kum-N-Go convenience store discovered the leak during a routine inspection Wednesday afternoon.

Kathy Lee, with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, says the cleanup will likely involve digging a recovery trench or sump pit. “Our regional field office located in Des Moines will be working with the facility and their environmental contractor closely to make sure the release does not impact the environment,” Lee told Radio Iowa. “Two key things will be recovery of the product and removal of contaminated soil.”

So far, none of the spilled gasoline has been discovered in the city’s sewer system. Lee says it appears the product has stayed in place rather than “migrate” elsewhere. Residents near the station are being told to call 9-1-1 if they smell gasoline in their basements.

The Kum-N-Go store remains open, but the gasoline pumps are shut down and the area around the underground tank is blocked off. Lee says the discovery of and response to gasoline spills is much faster today than 10 or 20 years ago.

“This 3,000 gallons may have gone unnoticed for quite some time in the past, but because of the programs that have been implemented by the E.P.A. and D.N.R., we get on these things much faster and stop the environmental contamination from occurring or at least limit it,” Lee said.

Filed Under: Environment & Conservation, Fires/Accidents/Disasters Tagged With:

Des Moines man reaches plea in shooting of his wife

April 22, 2010 By

A Des Moines man accused of shooting his estranged wife to death on Interstate 235 in Des Moines has reached a plea agreement. Fifty-three-year-old Randy Lee Davis was charged with first-degree murder soon after his wife was found dead following a four-car crash in September of 2008.

Police at first thought 41-year-old Michelle Davis died in the accident, but later determined she was shot. Witnesses reported seeing a red pickup like the one Davis drove in the area before the accident. Randy Davis was to go on trial May 4th, but has pled guilty to second-degree murder. Davis now faces a 50-year prison sentence.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts

Governor touts benefits of new prison at ground breaking

April 22, 2010 By
Artist rendition of new prison.

Artist rendition of new prison.

Governor Chet Culver joined hundreds of others this morning at the ground breaking ceremony for the new Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison.

Culver, a Democrat, who signed the legislation two years ago for the project, says it’s an historic day for the state.

“This is another sign of progress in this state, it’s taken a long time to get to this point, but we’ve all really pulled together for the good of southeast Iowa, for the good of the State of Iowa, and again I am very pleased that we’re going to build the best maximum security prison in the United States of America,” Culver said.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Crime & Courts, Politics & Government Tagged With: , ,

UNI looks for more success at Drake Relays

April 22, 2010 By

The U.N.I. track and field team will be looking for more success at the Drake Relays. The Panthers captured two titles in 2009 and expect to compete for more this week.

U.N.I. coach Dan Steele says they have some relay teams that they think can do well. He says there is more focus on the relays than individual events. Steele says trying to determine the right events led them to go with the relays first and then figure out how the time schedule works.

This will be Steele’s first trip to Drake as the U.N.I. coach. He says it’s a special event and he’s excited to be there as a coach after having a great experience as an athlete with Oregon.

Steele says a good performance at Drake can be a springboard for the remainder of the season. He says most places talk about the conference meet and national championships, but they include the Drake Relays in that too. Steele says doing well sets a nice tone for the distance carnival.

Elwin Huffman KOEL Oelwein

Filed Under: Sports Tagged With: ,

Australians’ documentary about Iowa Caucuses coming to Iowa

April 22, 2010 By

Australian filmmakers are staging the American premiere of their documentary about U.S. presidential campaigning here in Iowa. “First Stop, Iowa” will be shown at The Varsity Theater in Des Moines this Friday night at 7:30. 

John Barron, a radio reporter from Sidney, Australia, co-produced the documentary.  “As outsiders coming in from Australia, we wanted to find out why Iowa was so important,” Barron says, “and that took us on an interesting journey.”

Barron knew Iowa had a “disproportionately large say” in who becomes president, but the documentary makers wanted to know why that was the case so he asked some candidates of the past.  “The search to get those answers ultimately took us to see Senator George McGovern and to talk to him about the (1968) Chicago convention riots and the heartbreak that the Democrats felt that year after the deaths of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy the anger that so many of the people who had come into the process that year felt that their votes hadn’t been counted and they wanted to change that,” Barron says. “And a big part of that change, of course, was making Iowa the first state to vote.” 

Barron says the biggest surprise to him about covering the Iowa Caucuses was the passion he found among those who participated in the process. ”I come from a country where it’s compulsory to vote.  You have no choice, so there’s no great effort to get out the vote.  There’s no great passion in the political process. There are no hot-button social issues that get drawn into the political fray to try and motivate people to vote so everybody just takes it as their civil duty and it’s all rather dull,” Barron says.  “It’s anything but dull, of course, in Iowa in presidential election season.” 

Barron describes his experience as an “eye-opener” that dispelled preconceived notions about U.S. politics. “These Americans, they have this huge task of electing the most politician on the planet, but, you know, half of them stay at home.  They don’t really care,” Barron says.  “Well, that’s what we learned is that Americans generally and Iowans in particular, they care a whole lot.” 

Barron’s production company — Kitchen Table Productions — has shown the documentary in Australia and a few other countries, as that was their target audience.  “What’s been really interesting about this has been the number of American friends who’ve seen the film so far and they’re saying to us, ‘Gee, I didn’t know that’s why Iowa came to have such a big role in the process…I didn’t know that this is what the Caucuses actually were,’” Barron says.

The documentary takes viewers inside a Caucus and includes interviews with Iowa political activists. Friday’s showing is the first time the documentary will be shown on a theater screen in the U.S.  Barron spoke with Radio Iowa by phone from the Los Angeles airport, during a layover on his way to Des Moines for Friday’s premiere.

Filed Under: Campaign Countdown, Politics & Government Tagged With: , ,

Senator Harkin optimistic financial regulations will get bipartisan support

April 22, 2010 By

U.S. Senate leaders are launching into what they promise will be a major, landmark overhaul of regulations for the country’s financial institutions. Iowa Senator Tom Harkin, a Democrat, says he’s optimistic the legislation being created will gain swift bipartisan support, as Harkin says it’s something the people are demanding.

“Over the last two years, tens of millions of working Americans have lost their nest eggs, their jobs and/or their homes, as a direct consequence of run-amok greed and recklessness on Wall Street,” Harkin says. “Goldman Sachs and other bad actors believe they should remain free to continue business as usual with the very same abuses that helped bring our economy to its knees.”

Harkin says after preliminary discussions of the proposal, the legislation could go to the floor early next week. “Business as usual is not acceptable, certainly not for hard-working families in Iowa and across the country that have suffered because of Wall Street’s abuses,” Harkin says.

“Over the last decade, traders have gotten fabulously rich by gaming the unregulated financial casinos on Wall Street and when their house of cards came crashing down, they continued to collect multi-million dollar bonuses.” The bill is expected to establish a new government entity to shield consumers from crooked loans and mortgages. Harkin says there also needs to be a panel that would monitor the financial system for risks, while giving the government new powers over big investment houses that are on a shaky financial footing.

“I want to prevent any future taxpayer bailouts of so-called too-big-to-fail banks and companies,” Harkin says. “No more CitiGroups or AIGs. When companies make huge bets and lose, we need an orderly process for liquidating those companies, period.” Harkin also wants to see strong regulation of derivatives — which are essentially bets between private parties over future commodities costs.

During a Senate Ag Committee vote on Wednesday dealing with new limits on derivatives, Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley was the only Republican to join 12 Democrats in approving the measure.

Filed Under: Politics & Government Tagged With: ,
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