‘We’re just at the beginning point’: Deadly crashes rise over the past five years in Omaha

Vision Zero's 2025 annual report shows a concerning trend regarding Omaha road safety

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‘We’re just at the beginning point’: Deadly crashes rise over the past five years in Omaha; Vision Zero’s plan

OMAHA, Neb. —

One of Vision Zero’s mottos is “a crash is no accident.”

The global movement was adopted in Omaha back in 2023. Vision Zero Coordinator, Jeff Sobczyk, said 2025 was the biggest year in making their work visible on the road.

“We’re just at the beginning point to where we can see the changes on the streets. Last year, I think, we had over 250 serious injury crashes,” Sobczyk said.

37 crashes in 2025 were deadly.

That’s a slightly lower number when compared to deadly crashes from 2024, but looking at fatal crash trends over the past five years, you’ll see a concerning trend. There is a rise in deadly crashes for both motorists and non-motorists.

“It has to do a lot with the built transportation system. It has to deal with, just more and more, influence of technology in our daily movements and distractions. It also has to deal with just the size of our vehicles that we’re buying; they’re just getting bigger and bigger,” Sobczyk said.

Vision Zero has a response plan, and it starts with Omaha’s High Injury Networks (HINs). Every HIN in Omaha is east of 72nd Street.

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“There’s a lot of design considerations that weren’t adopted east of 72nd Street,” Sobczyk said. On top of that, the area is more population dense and has more pedestrians.

One of the actions Vision Zero took in 2025 was placing a modular roundabout at 32nd and Woolworth. Utilizing quick-build things like that can help reduce issues at these HINs.

Sobczyk said creating safer streets isn’t about making driving easier, but more about getting drivers focused.

“Knowing that people are getting more distracted, what more can we do to our system to put ourselves in the best position to be more alert?” Sobczyk said.

Vision Zero’s overall mission is zero traffic fatalities or serious injuries by the year 2024. It’s a vision Sobczyk knows is bold but believes is possible with a change in culture on Omaha roads.