Traffic fatalities within Freeborn County during 2011 decreased for the third year in a row, following state and national trends.

According to Tribune records, there were two fatalities within the county: one from an automobile crash and one from a dune buggy crash. Both crashes took place on a county highway.

This is the lowest number of traffic fatalities in the county within at least the last seven years.

“It’s a good relief from what we had been at,” said Freeborn County Sheriff Bob Kindler.

In 2010, there were eight traffic deaths; in 2009 there were 10; in 2008 there were 14; in 2007 there were four; in 2006 there were six; and in 2005 there were four.

Kindler attributed some of the decline in traffic fatalities to law enforcement efforts conducted throughout the county, along with a lack of severe weather during the fall and winter months.

He said the progress can also be attributed to the work of the county engineer in getting the county’s roads properly signed and in making sure the shoulders of the roads are where they should be.

“That has been a contributing factor in overall safety and improvement of fatalities and serious injury crashes,” Kindler said.

He also noted that the two traffic fatalities of the year were not caused by excessive speed or alcohol, which are usually common causes.

“They were simply driver error,” he said.

The following is a brief synopsis of each crash:

• Sixty-three-year-old Robert Gordon Bock of Glenville died June 22 at St. Marys Hospital from injuries he sustained in a rollover on June 18.

According to Freeborn County Sheriff’s Office reports, Bock was reportedly driving east on Freeborn County Road 19 in a 1999 Cadillac when he missed a curve and went into the south ditch, rolling once.

Bock was flown by helicopter to St. Marys Hospital, and his passenger, Casper Leland Kycek, 79, of rural Hayward, was transported by ambulance to Mayo Clinic Health System in Albert Lea before being transferred to St. Marys Hospital.

Bock was reportedly wearing his seat belt; Kycek was not.

• Kayla Koch, 17, of rural Glenville died July 10 after a dune buggy rolled over south of Myrtle.

According to Sheriff’s Office reports, Koch was a passenger in the dune buggy that was driven by Julie Bennett, 15, of Littleton, Colo.

The crash took place near the intersection of Freeborn County Road 1 and 860th Avenue, about a mile away from Koch’s home. The dune buggy was reportedly traveling east on County Road 1.

Bennett was treated at Mayo Clinic Health System in Albert Lea for a broken collarbone and released.