There’s another epidemic that’s claiming Colorado lives in alarming numbers, and this one isn’t being spread by a virus. It’s a plague of traffic fatalities – and anyone who gets in a motor vehicle is at risk.

As The Gazette reported this week, authorities said Tuesday that traffic deaths in Colorado have reached “crisis” proportions. The number of lives lost on our state’s roadways is the highest it has been in nearly two decades and 50% higher than a decade ago.

And at least one of the factors that seems to be driving this terrible development is the same one that’s driving our skyrocketing crime rate – a cutback in law enforcement. To be sure, as law enforcement officials point out, stemming the tide of highway carnage will take a joint effort with the motoring public.

Motorists will have to do their part to drive more slowly and cautiously. Yet, it also could take more law officers patrolling our roads more aggressively.

As noted in The Gazette’s report, staff shortages have strained public-safety agencies’ ability to enforce traffic laws. You also have to wonder to what extent the overall flogging of law enforcement by opportunistic politicians the past couple of years has taken a toll on traffic safety.

Not only through budget cuts but also by sapping law enforcement’s all-around ability to do its job – most notably by hampering its ability to recruit enough personnel to patrol our streets and highways effectively.

It’s compounded by soft-on-crime legislation at the state level, along with the inclination of some courts and even a few prosecutors around the state to go easy on wrongdoers.

All of it can create a climate in which law officers on the front lines feel their hands are tied. Yes, it even can affect enforcement of traffic laws.

In any event, the raw numbers are disturbing. More than 670 people died on Colorado roads last year. Motorcycle deaths accounted for 20% of traffic deaths; pedestrian deaths made up 13% of the toll, with 87 people killed on foot. Bicyclists killed on our roadways made up 2% of traffic fatalities.

Especially noteworthy is that driving drunk or high accounted for 246 of the state’s traffic deaths during 2021. That was a 16% increase from the previous year.

A transportation department official said that, as in any year, a lot of the loss of life boils down to, “drivers making poor decisions – whether it’s speeding, being on their phones, or not buckling up…”

Fair enough, but why the steep surge in fatalities? Why now?

The Gazette quotes a Colorado Department of Transportation statement: “When the pandemic began, there was a noted increase in risky driving behavior, including speeding, reckless and aggressive driving, distracted and impaired driving … Those dangerous driving habits have continued as vehicle traffic has returned to pre-pandemic levels, causing a marked increase in road fatalities.”

We have to resolve to keep our eyes on the road, our emotions in check and our priorities in order as we drive. We also have to resolve anew as a society to empower law enforcement to make its presence felt on our streets and highways.

Lawlessness, after all, not only can result in a spiraling crime rate but also in a deadly drive to work, school or the grocery store. Nobody likes a speeding ticket, but sometimes it’s the most effective way to save a motorist from a one-way trip.

Denver Gazette editorial board