Posted by Wondering?, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on Jan 2, 2013 at 12:07 pm

It's interesting that when these articles about DUI arrests over a holiday period often include the number of fatal crashes during the same period, there is not linkage between alcohol/drugs and these fatal crashes.

Wonder what it would take to get the media to actually do a little investigation, and make an effort to help folks understand whether these DUI checkpoints/campaigns are really worth the trouble?

Posted by musical, a resident of the Palo Verde neighborhood, on Jan 2, 2013 at 12:30 pm

>> Out of the 16 people killed in crashes ... four were not wearing seatbelts

I guess 12 were wearing seatbelts. Am I to conclude from this article, in the absence of further info, that people wearing seatbelts are 3-to-1 more likely to die?

Posted by Mark Twain was right, a resident of the College Terrace neighborhood, on Jan 2, 2013 at 4:12 pm

"I guess 12 were wearing seatbelts. Am I to conclude from this article, in the absence of further info, that people wearing seatbelts are 3-to-1 more likely to die? "

No, because it does not state how many accident victims (with or without seatbelts) survived. You cannot conclude anything from the data given and I don't see how the information in the article would lead anyone to do so.

Posted by musical, a resident of the Palo Verde neighborhood, on Jan 2, 2013 at 6:27 pm

"You cannot conclude anything from the data given and I don't see how the information in the article would lead anyone to do so."

I think that was the point made by @Wondering, that the article presents some quantitative factoids but leaves us in a vacuum to draw any logical conclusions.

Then again, on their current budgets I can't really expect the media to do much investigative reporting, and there are certainly bigger fish to fry than DUI checkpoints. I'm satisfied that we at least got this much info at PA-Online, and it's good to read that holiday accident data have not significantly worsened from last year.