DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A string of crashes along a 20-mile stretch of Interstate 80 has the Iowa State Patrol considering sending more troopers to the central Iowa freeway.

Eight people were killed and eight others were injured in accidents this month along that portion of rural highway in Jasper County. In each of the three wrecks, the driver lost control and crossed the median, colliding head-on with traffic.

The crashes have prompted the Iowa Department of Transportation to consider moving up the installation of cable median barriers on that stretch of I-80. The work had been unofficially planned for 2012.

DOT senior transportation engineer Troy Jerman said the agency is looking at whether the three crashes happened randomly or were part of a deadly pattern.

"This is kind of a probability thing. Is it likely another one of these will happen soon, and do we need to get out there right away to fix this?" Jerman said.

There have been 15 deaths and 253 injuries on I-80 in Jasper County over the past five years. But records show that between 2001 and 2007, at least a dozen other sections of I-80 and Interstate 35 throughout Iowa had worse records for cross-median crashes.

In Jasper County, the latest fatality happened Monday near Newton when a 19-year-old woman was killed. Two other people were injured. The other accidents happened Aug. 14 between Colfax and Newton — seven people died after that crash and two were injured — and Aug. 15 near Grinnell, in which four people were hurt.

State troopers were stretched thin recently because of widespread flooding and the Iowa State Fair coupled with state budget cuts, said Capt. Mark Probst, the State Patrol's field operations commander. But now the patrol will consider adding more troopers along that section of I-80 in an effort to prevent more deaths.

Patrol officials said the driver of a minivan in the Aug. 14 crash may have fallen asleep, hit a semi-truck, then crossed the median and collided with a car. Five people in the van were killed and two injured. Both people in the car died.

"Maybe if we had an extra trooper out on the road and they had seen them, maybe they wouldn't have fallen asleep. It would have given them that shot of adrenaline to stay more attentive. God only knows," said Probst.

Jasper County Sheriff Michael Balmer said he is not convinced cable median barriers will be a cure-all for traffic safety problems on I-80.

"More often than not, it is the human element, either someone driving while distracted, driving too fast, driving carelessly or recklessly. Those are things we cannot control," Balmer said.