Last week, I mentioned that fatal vehicle crashes in Kansas City are up 15 percent over this time last year with 60 people dead. We've just gotten the statistics for those fatalities through the end of September (at which point we'd had 57 people die in crashes).
Some of the most telling are these:
* 71 percent of people who died were not wearing seat belts.
* 67 percent of the crashes involved people driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
It's frustrating to think how many lives would have been saved had people taken the simple steps of buckling a seat belt and/or designating a sober driver. So much pain and tragedy could have been prevented.
Other statistics on those who died in vehicle crashes this year include:
- 82 percent were male, 18 percent female
- 47 percent were white, 44 percent black and 9 percent Hispanic
- A third of all the people who died were between the ages of 30 and 39
- 23 percent of those killed were on a motorcycle
- 16 percent were pedestrians
- 32 percent were ejected from their vehicles
- 25 percent of the crashes occurred on a highway - the rest were on city streets.
I've said it before, and I will keep saying it. Please be careful. Wear your seat belt and never drive under the influence of alcohol or drugs. This is about life and death.
Send comments to kcpdchiefblog@kcpd.org
