Though there were not as many traffic fatalities in 2009 as there were in 2008, Freeborn County still saw more deaths than average during the last year from wrecks on the roads and interstates that pass through the county, according to records.

Whether it was on a state highway, interstate or county road, there were 10 fatalities during 2009.

Those who died ranged in age from 11 to 62 and were from both inside and outside Freeborn County.

In 2008 there were 14 fatalities; in 2007 there were four; in 2006 there were six; and in 2005 there were four, according to Freeborn County records.

The following is a review of each of the 10 traffic deaths this year:

Feb. 1: 44-year-old Andrew Waalkens of Hartland died as a result of injuries sustained in a vehicle rollover on Minnesota Highway 13 north of Manchester.

According to a Minnesota State Patrol report, Waalkens was driving his 2003 Dodge Ram when he slid on an icy part of Highway 13 near milepost 8, entered a ditch and rolled.

Waalkens was wearing his seat belt and no alcohol was detected.

 April 9: Carol Jean Cramer, 45, of Riceville, Iowa, died at the scene of a rollover near the intersection of Freeborn County Road 13 and Freeborn County Road 34 in London Township.

According to a Freeborn County Sheriff’s Office release the automobile she was riding in rolled several times before resting on its top.

Cramer was the front-seat passenger in the automobile and was pronounced dead at the scene. She was ejected from the automobile, according to reports.

The driver of the automobile was identified as Blake Nelson of Lyle.

There was one other passenger in the vehicle.

 May 29: Blue Earth man Jose Ignacio Martinez-Navidad, 48, died as a result of a crash at the corner of Freeborn County Road 46 and 700th Avenue when his motorcycle ran into a vehicle driven by Marvin William Steinhauer, 86, Albert Lea.

According to the Freeborn County Sheriff’s Office, Steinhauer was traveling north on 700th Avenue when he reportedly failed to stop for a stop sign and was struck broadside by Martinez-Navidad’s motorcycle that was traveling west on County Road 46.

Steinhauer faces charges of vehicular homicide and drunken driving from the incident.

 Aug. 19: Four people died in a three-vehicle crash on Interstate 90 just west of the State Highway 13 intersection.

The casualties were Soubink Khemphomma, 46, his children, Bambi, 13, and Christi, 11, all of Waterloo, Iowa, and Gloria Anderson, 62, of St. Charles, Ill.

The crash occurred when both eastbound and westbound on Interstate 90 between Albert Lea and Alden were down to two lanes while crews reconstructed the other two lanes.

According to reports, for a reason still undetermined, Anderson veered into the westbound lanes, smashing into the front of a tractor-trailer driven by Randy Pedersen, 56, of Swaledale, Iowa. Anderson died upon impact.

The semi crashed into an eastbound Honda Odyssey minivan with the Khemphomma family, killing all three family members.

Pedersen walked away unharmed.

The collisions happened within visible distance of the Super America gas station near the junction of I-90 and Minnesota Highway 13. The I-90 overpass of Highway 13 remained closed for several hours until maintenance vehicles removed wreckage and the team could reconstruct the crash. Traffic was rerouted.

The Minnesota State Patrol’s report on the quadruple fatality was still ongoing at the end of 2009. It often takes several months before it reaches the county attorney’s office.

It was the deadliest automobile crash since Sept. 4, 1988. Four people had died when a Jeep failed to yield to a car at the corner of Freeborn County Roads 26 and 19.

 Sept. 17: Dillon J. Gordon, 28, of Alden, died at St. Marys Hospital in Rochester from injuries sustained in a motorcycle crash Sept. 9 near Gordonsville.

Freeborn County Sheriff’s Office reports stated Gordon missed a curve on Freeborn County Road 1 — aka State Line Road — and struck a sign on the 797th Avenue corner. The curve is about a mile west of Gordonsville.

When authorities found him he was unresponsive.

He was transported by Mercy Airlift to a hospital in Mason City, Iowa, and later taken to St. Marys Hospital in Rochester.

 Nov. 18: Two people died and 21 were injured when a tour bus owned by Strain Motorcoach Tours of Rochester rolled over on Interstate 90 in Freeborn County three miles west of Austin.

The bus was headed back to Rochester after four hours at Diamond Jo Casino in Iowa, when driver Ed Erickson of Elgin suffered a chest aneurysm.

According to reports, the eastbound bus crossed the grassy median, crossed over the westbound lanes and slammed into the north ditch before rolling on its right side — the side with the door.

Ambulances came from far and near to take passengers to hospitals for treatment. Freeway traffic in both directions was blocked for hours. Once everyone was out of the bus and transported, large wreckers were positioned to lift the bus. The bus had no seat belts, and when it overturned, some passengers were trapped underneath.

The rollover gained national attention, as most bus crashes do. Most of the passengers were Rochester area residents.

Rhonda Hill, 52, of Plainview, and Pamela Holmquist, 56, of Kasson died in the crash.

Freeborn County Sheriff Mark Harig said he’s had meetings with the Toward Zero Death committee, and that committee reviews every fatality closely. They review the road conditions, the road structure and other factors involved with each crash.

And almost always, Harig said, “It’s driver error. It’s really hard factors to have any control over.”

With more fatalities than average in the last two years, Harig said he doesn’t like Freeborn County being coined as being a high-risk area because he thinks it’s the drivers who are making the errors that lead to the crashes.

“It’s not the road conditions or the road designs,” he said.

With this opinion, he wanted to remind people to use designated drivers, to avoid distractions, to slow down if conditions warrant it and to always wear their seat belts.

Harig said the county’s deputies will continue its extra mobilizations and enforcement to encourage people to do so, but it’s difficult when the interstates bring in people from all over the country.

It’s also difficult when the Minnesota State Patrol is short on staff to help with the state roads.