Safety of our children - a reality check

Sadly, while we've been preoccupied these past few months with the post-tragedy analysis of Sandy Hook Elementary, including hearing the latest plans by groups such as the NRA, Advancement Project, ACLU, and the NAACP -- none of which any semi-intelligent person would conclude are experts in school safety -- an estimated 1,650 children and teens ages 5-20 have died in automobile crashes, and another estimated 100,000 have been seriously injured. This is according to data easily available on the Internet from organizations charged with tracking this kind of thing.

The estimated cost of a year's worth of accidents involving children is placed at $26 billion, more than twice what it would cost to put an armed police officer in every school.

I don't see the same sense of urgency for preventing or reducing this type of loss of life or injury. In fact, we aren't engaging in any kind of serious discussion that remotely rises to the level of alarm that followed the mostly-isolated event at Sandy Hook.

No one wants to see any child hurt or killed, especially at school. But one has to wonder what it's going to take before we make any real progress towards reducing the carnage on our roads. One young life lost or a child badly hurt is one too many. It doesn't matter if it was at school or in a car.