Oftentimes, people hear statistics without really getting a sense of them. The news talks about how statistics show that driving is more dangerous than flying even though people drive all the time without getting into wrecks. Those people are the lucky ones… For the people who are involved in significant accidents, or have a loved one or relative that was involved in one, statistics of the dangers of driving are very real.

In Kentucky recently, 14 people were killed in three automotive accidents over four days. A Mennonite family was struck when a tractor-trailer crossed the median, killing 11 and leaving only two surviving children. Another tractor-trailer crossed the median into opposing traffic killing a woman on a motorcycle. Another woman died just blocks from her house when her car struck a tree. These accidents had different causes, but each one took lives. Yes, it is safe to drive on the roads in most cases, but proper driving is no guarantee of safety. A family observing all the laws and proper procedures can still end up involved in an accident and even killed if another driver loses control of a large truck or other massive vehicle and drives into them or forces them off the road.

State authorities are investigating the incidents above, particularly the two cases in which the medians were crossed. The causes of the accidents may have been issues with the roads themselves or possibly the fault of the drivers. For that very reason, traffic accidents are particularly difficult to investigate, especially on busy roadways such as interstates. Evidence can scatter, and every moment spent collecting information ties up the roads and costs time, money, and frustration to all involved. Regardless of those difficulties, the victims—or the victims’ families, as the case may be—deserve to know the truth of what happened, especially if findings can bring about safer roads or stricter rules for the kinds of vehicles that might have been at fault.