DOT says alcohol‑related fatal crashes fell to 19% in 2024; Vision Zero school outreach expanding

Robin Reberg, deputy director overseeing driver safety at the North Dakota Department of Transportation, briefed the committee on the agency’s Highway Safety Office programs and crash data trends.

Reberg said the department’s 2024 preliminary data show alcohol‑related fatal crashes accounted for about 19% of fatal crashes in 2024, down from about 31% in 2022. She attributed declines in part to local high‑visibility enforcement and education programs coordinated through the state’s Vision 0 strategic highway safety plan. “In 2024, the percentage of alcohol related crashes that included fatalities was about 19 percent,” she told the committee.

Reberg described several outreach and prevention efforts: the North Dakota Sober Ride program, launched in 2021 in partnership with AAA and Lyft, has provided over 3,000 sober rides in areas served by Lyft. The “Buckle Up Phone Down” campaign, launched in April 2023, had collected more than 900 pledges at the time of the presentation. Reberg also described the Vision Schools initiative: 14 schools are enrolled in the program so far; the program requires sustained effort and training, she said, which limits how quickly more schools come on board.

Reberg told legislators the Highway Safety Office receives the majority of its funding from federal NHTSA grants (roughly $14 million per biennium) and that the office relies on a network of local law enforcement, tribal partners and Vision 0 coordinators located in Bismarck, Fargo, Grand Forks, Minot and Jamestown to deliver programs and school outreach.

Why this matters: Committee members noted that trends in crash causes affect infrastructure and program priorities the DOT brings to appropriators—lane departure and passing lanes were discussed in the context of both crash reduction and corridor design.