As I was traveling on highways a couple weeks ago through North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky and Indiana, I saw signs, particularly in Indiana, where politicians were really pushing fear and bragging about how strong they were and how they were going to make sure you weren’t going to be a crime victim. Crime is not a laughing matter, but the crime rate has plunged and people over estimate how common it is. (A notable exception is domestic violence. )

The political billboards were showing how tough on crime each politician was. The irony was, it was rainy, the traffic was terrible, and trucks in particular were just driving like crap. Unlike the crime rate, the motor vehicle accident rate is on the rise.

On a dark desert highway…

Trucks were in a hurry and they were doing bad jobs of merging. I saw one pull in front of a little Honda and almost take it out.  At a merge, two trucks didn’t want to give each other room and almost crashed. Another truck wove all over the road, the driver looking at a screen in her hand.

To my horror, I saw a truck driver getting out of a truck at a gas station. He was wearing slides with thick soles. My chemist danger signs flashed. Flip flops and sandals have caused over a million accidents. Not only do they fall off and get stuck under pedals, they double driver reaction time. Add thick soles and you get even slower at pushing the brake pedal. Imagine this in a truck.

Welcome to Indiana!

That was just on a small stretch of Indiana highway. I started thinking. Really, what should be we be worrying about? Should be we be worrying about getting mugged and robbed? I mean, sure, we should be, but what is more of a danger to us—other peoples’ bad driving or a stranger’s criminal intents? What’s most likely to kill us?

The top causes of death in the US in order are heart disease, cancer, covid, and accidents. Of the accidents, accidental poisoning is the most common type of accident. You might think of prescription drugs at this point but carbon monoxide is a big source of poison. Alcohol is the top killer by poison. Motor vehicle accidents are the second cause of accidental deaths.

Above: what is most likely to kill those under age 75.

There are highway improvements that can increase safety including rumble strips, medians, increased signage, and high friction curves. I swear, the last politician I heard taking about safer highways was Leonard Boswell, who died in 2018.

One really frightening thing I saw on my nail-biting trip across Indiana and points south was trucks merging with barely a signal. Yet here in Iowa, we don’t care about that. We have a law limiting truck liability. We have a law making it easier to get a trucking license—a national and bipartisan push. Here’s the rub. Iowa is a top state for fatal truck accidents. In fact, it ties for number one! (Indiana is up there, too, as shown on this map.)

The political billboards were meant to make people afraid of death by homicide. It isn’t a top cause of death overall, especially not compared to heart problems, cancer, poisoning, or motor vehicle accidents. I suppose one thing that makes people afraid of it is that you can choose to get in a car but you can’t choose not to be mugged. But politicians are notoriously guilty of ramping up the fear. Interestingly enough, people who are more educated are less likely to commit homicide.  (Domestic violence is also less common for educated women and educated couples.) Educated people are less likely in general to commit crimes. What do you want to bet that some of those tough on crime politicians complain about student loan forgiveness? If they really cared about reducing crime, they’d make college free. They’d pour money into public education.

Meanwhile, drive safely. Watch out for the other guy.