Prudent Colorado drivers try to stay fully focused on the road ahead at all times, of course. They don’t need a reminder or periodic pep talk to stay engaged and absolutely preoccupied with safety.
Still, an occasional spotlighting of roadways risks and accident-inducing catalysts can spell upsides for conscientious motorists and their loved ones buckling up and heading out into traffic. Call it preventative spotlighting, if you will, or a defensive-minded spiel that merely seeks to underscore the potential perils existing on state streets and highways. Even the best drivers need to occasionally rehear the “drive safely” mantra.
Because, truly, outsized risks do exist on Colorado roads, and they are multi-sourced.
Common vehicle crash causes on Colorado’s varied roadways
State safety regulators and law enforcers understandably focus on crash catalysts that literally drive serious injury and fatal outcomes for Coloradans. The Colorado Department of Transportation might be the most notable agency focused on a matter that CDOT prominently terms a “problem.”
In fact, the department’s periodically issued Problem Identification Report points to an exhaustive number and variety of behind-the-wheel behaviors that it stresses contribute inordinately to motor vehicle accidents. Here are some representative entrants:
- Speeding
- Generalized negligence (e.g., weaving, tailgating and failure to signal)
- Cellphone use
- Inattentiveness across a broad front (distracted driving)
- Impaired driving
Collectively, negligence-driven conduct marked by such behaviors takes a truly egregious human toll on Colorado passenger-vehicle drivers and other occupants, as well as motorcyclists, bicyclists and pedestrians. An online legal overview of car and truck crashes across the state duly notes that, “Motor vehicle accidents are one of the leading causes of catastrophic personal injuries [and deaths] in Colorado.”
Some relevant numbers and statistics re Colorado vehicle crashes
There are many outlets that convey crash information, which results in numbers that may differ a bit dependent on source. The data presented immediately below come from research culled by CDOT in the aforementioned report. The statistics are germane to 2016. Most fundamentally, they spotlight this:
- More than 600 deaths tied to roadway crashes
- 200-plus speeding fatalities
- 125 motorcyclist deaths
- More than 160 deaths caused by an alcohol-impaired driver
- Nearly 10,000 nonfatal injury crashes
Those crash-linked statistics are both startling and tragic in their dimensions. And they are rendered further problematic by a reality stressed by the CDOT authors in their report. They emphasize the point that, “Most motor vehicle crashes are preventable.”
That means this: Absent third-party negligence, serious and fatal Colorado roadway outcomes almost never occur.
Victims and loved ones who suffer in vehicle accidents owing to another party’s lack of due care have rights and meaningful remedies they can pursue that are marked by maximum compensation.
Taking purposeful legal action in the wake of a personal injury can be an empowering and restorative act.