Today one might expect to pay at least $130 for a speeding fine, plus $97 in court costs. In 1994 a speeding ticket was anywhere from $58-$63. A no driver’s license fine was only $67, whereas today it could be around $200. Today’s fees reflect more involvement by the State of Texas in our business. For instance the State tells the courts how much to charge for court costs and how much we can keep in Munday. Not much stays here. And if we don’t collect as much as they prescribe, we still have to send it to them every quarter.
Now that you are in a mode for dealing with statistics, here’s a few for you from the crash calendar of 2008.Statistics show that Texas has a significant traffic safety problem. In 2008 there were approximately 3,468 traffic related fatalities, with 1,422 (42%) being speed related. Fatalities in traffice crashes in rural areas accounted for 1,877 deaths (54.1%). That’s right, over half of the deaths occurred in areas like Munday.
There were no deathless days on Texas roadways in 2008. Friday, August 8th was the deadliest day with 32 persons killed in traffic crashes. August and October were the deadliest months with 320 persons killed in both months.
Of those killed in 2008 56% were not wearing seat belts. Of 529 motorcyclists (operators and passengers) killed, 56% were not wearing helmets at the time of the crash.
Single vehicle, run off the road crashes resulted in 1,116 deaths. This was 32% of all deaths. There were 829 people killed in crashes occurring in intersections or related to an intersection. Another 510 were killed in head-on crashes.
There were 975 killed in crashes where a driver was under the influence of alcohol. This is 28.1% of the total killed. More DUI-alcohol related crashes were reported in the hour between 2:00 a.m. and 2:59 a.m. than any other hour of the day. Also, more alcohol related crashes occurred on Saturday than any other day of the week.
Pedalcyclist fatalities totaled 48, a 4% decrease from 2007.
Okay, so you think you’d feel safer walking than riding in a car? Pedestrian fatalities totaled 48 in 2008. This is a 5% increase over 2007. So it was more dangerous to walk in 2008 than it was in 2007.
Then there are the airlines who brag about how much safer it is to fly. I don’t know how one would go about comparing statistics realistically. One airline says it is safer to fly with them because they had fewer accidents per takeoff. Another says they are safer because they have had fewer accidents per 100, 000 flying miles. Another is safer because they have the best peanuts in the air. One website, sponsored by a law firm, says if calculated by distance, planes are 62 times safer than cars and trucks However, if calculated by journey, planes are three times more dangerous than cars.
Another site, sponsored by a book on air safety, says more a realistic figure is the rate of fatalities per number of journeys. By this measure, air travel takes on a different complexion. Fatalities per 100 million passenger journeys are 4.5 for cars, 2.7 for trains, and 55 for planes. This means one is 12 times more likely to die on a commercial jet compared to a car, and 20 times more likely to die on a plan than on a train.
A good statistician can crunch the numbers to come up with any story his boss wants, whether they are correct or not.
Just give people the facts about Munday and how great it is and you’ll be correct in every way.
