Message Monday - Every number has a face - it's personal
It’s so easy for us to see a fatality number in the news, on a social media post, or an overhead sign on the highway and not think much about what that number means.
Unfortunately, for many it isn’t until a member of your family or a friend is counted among those killed that the number takes on an entirely different meaning. In the first seven weeks of 2017, 40 people have died on Iowa’s highways. That is 40 people who were someone’s spouse, significant other, parent, grandparent, child, sibling, or friend. Think of the thousands of people those 40 deaths had a significant personal impact on.
If that fatality number still doesn’t bother you, how about this… a 2015 study, Iowa ranked 28th in the probability of dying in a traffic crash. https://www.thrillist.com/cars/nation/how-likely-you-are-to-die-in-a-car-accident-in-every-us-state-the-most-dangerous-roads-in-america. That next number could be someone who is important to you.
If you would like to see Iowa become a safer place to driver, here are a few things you can do every time you get behind the wheel.
- Buckle up
- Drive sober
- Stay alert
- Focus on the road
- Slow down
The fatality count of 40 is an increase of seven since last Monday. Preliminary number show that in all of 2016, 403 people were killed on Iowa highways. To see statistics published daily by the Office of Driver Services, go to the daily fatality count