Beware of misleading statistics on Clark County’s pedestrian deaths
November 21, 2017 - 9:00 pm
All pedestrian traffic deaths are tragic and sad, but your articles giving gross numbers are misleading without the denominator of population (“Pedestrian fatalities in county hit record high,” Friday Review-Journal). The rate of risk — i.e., deaths per 100,000 population — is necessary to make a meaningful comparison.
Using Clark County government figures, we can see the trends. In 1994, the rate was 4.1 per 100,000. In 2000, it was 2.8, and in 2010, it was 1.7. To date in 2017, it is 2.9.