Fatal Christmas crashes prove need for vigilance

    Over the 2018 holiday season, Colorado had a wake-up call. Starting Christmas Eve and continuing through the next 72 hours, Colorado lost a total of nine lives in seven crashes. Those killed ranged from teenagers all the way to grandparents. The news talked about the loss of lives, and people talked about it around friends and family, but pretty much Colorado went about its daily life after hearing the news.
    If these people had been killed in a different way, say they were shot during the same period of time, the outcry from the public would have reached the heavens. But, for some strange reason, deaths in traffic crashes have been accepted as something that just happens. It needs to be acknowledged as a true, tragic issue and needs to be stopped.
    On Dec. 27, when troopers heard of the fifth person dying that single day, we decided we had to step up and get the public to act on preventing crashes. It starts with a message to Coloradoans that it has to stop. Colorado State Patrol Chief Matthew Packard made a video with a powerful statement to the residents of the state. He emphasized that we need a call to action to help protect the public from dying senseless deaths. We hope this will be the beginning of a movement to protect the public.
    CSP is seeing crashes involving DUI/DUID, lane violations, speeding, exceeding safe speed and being inattentive to driving as some of our most common reasons for fatal crashes. Another reason we have fatal crashes is some people still refuse to wear their seat belt, and we know it would have saved their life. I want you to know it’s not just limited to fatal crashes; Coloradoans need to be aware there are way too many crashes as well.

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