From the Daily Camera
Deaths on Colorado’s roadways jumped 11 percent in 2016
By Jesse Paul
The Denver Post
More than 600 people died on Colorado’s roadways last year, according to statistics gathered by state transportation officials, up about 11 percent from 2015 and the highest total in a decade, despite increased work to brake a now-sixyear rise in fatalities.
Of the at least 605 deaths on Colorado’s roads in 2016, 380 were drivers or passengers in cars, sport utility vehicles and trucks, the Colorado Department of Transportation numbers show. Motorcyclists accounted for another 125 of the deaths, while a 15-year high of 84 pedestrians and 16 bicyclists died on the road.
In 2015, 547 people diedon the state’s roadways. The last time the fatality count was so high was in 2005, when 606 people were killed.
“It is disappointing to see the numbers continue to rise,” said Sam Cole, CDOT’s traffic safety communications manager. “This is an emerging crisis in Colorado.”
While officials say the cause of the spike is hard to pinpoint, they blame everything from distracted and impaired driving to low seat belt use and motorcyclists not wearing helmets and other protective gear. The increase in deaths outpaced Colorado’s estimated population growth, which the state demographer’s office says was 1.7 percent in 2016…
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I kind of wish our CDOT communication manager had a more sensitive perspective than, “It is disappointing to see the numbers continue to rise,”
Might actually create a sense of urgency.