I blogged last year about the fact that, despite the increasing harshness of Kansas DUI laws over the past few years, Kansas had one of the highest increases in drunk driving related fatalities in the entire nation. I had been pondering whether we were getting any return for the massive investment Kansas was making in DUI enforcement and whether these harsher laws were making us any safer. The 2006 statistics seemed to indicate “no”. NHTSA has just released the 2007 statistics on traffic fatalities. Once again, Kansas is not looking so good. There were less deaths from automobile crashes this year in Kansas, but more allegedly involved alcohol impaired drivers. In other words, the Kansas DUI problem appears to be getting worse for the second year in a row, despite the evermore draconian DUI laws in Kansas, including the 2007 laws treating those who blow .150 or higher more harshly.
Basically, the numbers are this:
In 2006, 468 people died on the roads in Kansas. 125 of them are alleged to have been over .08. That is 26.7%
In 2007, 416 people died on the roads in Kansas. 114 of them are alleged to have been over .08. That is 27.4%
No matter how you slice it, the problem is not getting better. My previous post lays out why this is, so I won’t repeat myself here. Needless to say, the laws that are causing more people to lose their jobs, lose their families, and drive without insurance, among other social problems, have thus far not been doing us any good in terms of making the roads safer.