Day 4. Knowledge is power.

I am obsessed with this picture. If you’ve read my stuff before, you know I love seeing how people present information in very understandable ways. Credit goes to Dennis Bratland and you can see more detail, including the data behind the chart, on Wikipedia.

The chart shows five variables (vehicle deaths/billion miles driven, per million people, total deaths, miles driven, and population), the passage of time, and three major historical events (WW II, the 70’s energy crisis, and the Great Recession).

The first noteworthy item is simply the availability of the data. We have vehicle death data going back to 1900 (36 deaths). By the 1920’s all the data is available.

The second is all the groups who research these trends. The Department of Transportation, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, the manufacturers and more, I am sure. It’s all very easy to access if you are interested.

Next, note the overall trends. Almost every year since this has been tracked, the rate of deaths has decreased as a function of miles driven, and with the exception of the post WW II years, as a function of population. Since the early 70’s the total number of deaths has trended downward, even as the US population has grown roughly 50%. My guess on the recent upticks is the end of the recession combined with the distracted driving issue.

Why is that?

Many reasons, I am sure. Safety advances (better vehicle design, seat belts, airbags, car seats), new laws (speed limits, cracking down on drunk driving), public awareness (most of us consider safety ratings when buying a new car and manufacturers work hard to get good ratings), and yes, a few class action suits.

So what’s the point.

Here’s a graph showing vehicle deaths and firearm deaths since 1979. Big difference. First, there is very limited data for firearm deaths. Just getting the total number was not easy and some of it had to be taken from Australian research. Generally, there is less data available on firearm deaths due to federal restrictions on funding research and sharing data. Second, the overall trend, particularly since 2000, is not good. Finally, for the last 4 years, the number of firearm deaths exceeded vehicle deaths, by an increasing number each year.

It’s also worth noting that one thing has not brought the vehicle fatality rate down. It’s many actions (key word) focused on different aspects of the issue. Similarly, there is no single fix (silver bullet) to our embarrassingly and uniquely (among developed countries) high number of gun deaths. It’s legislation, regulation, registration, restriction, limitation, mental health care, information sharing and on and on.

But to do all these things we need to fully understand the problem and causes. And we can’t do that when we’re not collecting the data and doing the scientific research.

Knowledge is power. Ignorance is not bliss, and to borrow words from a great blog I read this week, “Kids are dying, and it’s time to stop fucking around.”

Amen