An 80-year-old Nebraska man died Thursday morning after the 2000 Chevy pickup he was riding in lost control, entered a ditch and struck a tree on an icy part of Interstate 35 west of Geneva.

His is the 12th fatality on the highways and byways in Freeborn County in 2008. There were two last year.

According to Minnesota State Patrol reports, the driver of the truck, Patricia Scheuffele, 52, of Lexington, Neb., was driving northbound on Interstate 35 just before 9 a.m. near milepost 35 when she spun on the icy road.

The truck struck a tree on the passenger side of the vehicle, on which her father, Keith W. Pearson, of Cozad, Neb., was sitting, reports stated.

Scheuffele received non-life threatening injuries from the crash and was transported to Albert Lea Medical Center.

The truck was the only vehicle involved. The Freeborn County Sheriff’s Office assisted at the scene.

The high numbers of traffic deaths in 2008 have law enforcement and highway engineers concerned.

The most recent death was on Veterans Day, when Juanita Olson lost control of her 2004 Chevy Suburban on northbound I-35 near Exit 8 when it was struck by a 2005 Dodge truck.

Three of Freeborn County’s fatalities occurred at the site of a washout on Freeborn County Road 34 in Oakland Township in June.

Two others took place as a result of a head-on collision on southbound Interstate 35 near the state line after a pickup crossed the median and hit another pickup in August.