On April 6, 2018, the Humboldt Broncos junior hockey squad was travelling in Saskatchewan by bus to a hockey game, just like many other junior hockey teams do annually across Canada and the U.S. Unfortunately, the bus was involved in a horrific collision with a tractor trailer. There were 29 people on the bus at the time of the collision, 15 of whom died with the remainder being sent to hospital suffering from a variety of serious injuries. Needless-to-say, all of Canada was shocked and sent their prayers and thoughts to the families, friends and community members. A country is in grief, and well it should be.
However, while tragic, one has to understand that fatalities resulting from motor vehicle accidents are a fact of life on North American highways. Fortunately, the introduction of seat belts, air bags and other safety measures helped greatly in reducing fatalities and serious injuries in recent years. In Canada, the death toll went from 2 fatalities per 10,000 motor vehicles registered in 1996 to less than 1 fatality per 10,000 motor vehicles registered in 2015. In the U.S. according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 32,000 people died on U.S. roads in 2013, roughly 90 fatalities a day. However, similar to Canada, the U.S. has seen a 31 percent reduction in its motor vehicle death rate per capita over the past 13 years.
Put in another perspective, gun deaths continue unabated. In 2014, gun deaths outpaced motor vehicle deaths in 21 American states and the District of Columbia. The CDC published recent data showing 38,658 gun deaths for 2016, including suicides — up from 33,563 gun deaths in 2012. Unlike motor vehicles, guns remain the only consumer products not regulated for health and safety in the United States and Canada.
While we are doing better with respect to highway and motor vehicle safety, much more needs to be done. The best thing that one can do to honor the victims of the Humboldt tragedy is to strive to continue to improve highway and motor vehicle safety. The best thing that one can do to honor the students killed in the mass shooting at Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School — which saw 17 people killed and several injured — is to improve gun safety and gun control laws. As societies, we owe it to both past and future victims.
FROLITICKS 
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