What’s the point of statistics, anyway? It sure seems like there are a lot of them out there – statistics about everything medical, physical, mental, psychological, and even spiritual. How many did this, and how much of that. Mark Twain once said, “There are lies, damned lies, and statistics.” Certainly people can turn statistics to mean whatever they are trying to get across. And since some statistics are based on only a random sampling of information, we might often wonder, “what did the other 90% of the other random people say?”
But some statistics are based entirely on facts that can be proven, and these are the ones that ought to make us sit thoughtfully and consider what is going on.
Here are the 2010 and prior statistics regarding traffic deaths in our state of Wyoming. After reading them, we will take a look at how many were “fueled” by drugs and alcohol. The information in this list is courtesy of the Wyoming Department of Transportation.
2010: 153__ 2009: 134__ 2008: 159__ 2007: 149__ 2006: 195
We are no where near the high level of 2006, thankfully. But 153 is 14% higher than the 134 that happened in 2009. And here’s a point to think about: impaired driving played a role in 45 percent of the 153 traffic deaths last year.
45 percent. That means that 68 or 69 people would still be walking around today if it had not been for someone driving a car while under the influence of alcohol or drugs. 68 or 69 people would be enjoying our Wyoming sunsets and perhaps going to their jobs and paying their taxes. The death of 68 or 69 people likely caused grief to well over 500 people – perhaps even thousands, depending on who they were.
Sgt. Duane Ellis, the safety education coordinator for the Wyoming Highway Patrol believes that these deaths were totally avoidable. "Is it worth it for them to get wherever they are going after consuming alcohol?" he asked. "A lot of people have the philosophy that it hurts only them if they are killed in a crash. The decisions we make behind the wheel affect not only the driver, but everyone the driver knows."
