Photo: Glen Rosales, Albuquerque Journal, from “‘Crazy Crash Sunday’ Keeps Police Busy”

This word “random,” I do not think it means what you think it means…

“KOB 4 spoke with an APD spokesperson who says the number of accidents on Sunday was about three times the norm. They said there doesn’t seem to be a reason for the high volume, just a random bad day.” -“APD: Number of Crashes Three Times Higher Than Normal Sunday”

When there is also this:

“APD also said there is a correlation between fatal crashes and citations. Fatal crashes are on the rise while the number of citations being written are decreasing. Action 7 News (KOAT) has reported several times that APD is dealing with an officer shortage and the department’s specialized units are also understaffed.

APD’s traffic unit is in charge of investigating fatal crashes as well as police escorts, minor crashes and traffic duties such as traffic violations and citations. Right now, the traffic unit only has 9 officers.” -“Fatal Crashes in Albuquerque on the Rise“

The City of Albuquerque covers 189.5 square miles and now has these nine traffic officers. Yeah, sure…random. Countywide, Bernalillo has seen right at a doubling of traffic deaths in the first seven months of 2016 versus 2015.

If these same numbers were applied to crime, Zika or Albuquerque Rapid Transit “pre-construction,” there would be rioting in the streets, smaller rocks or no. But because this is about cars and other means of getting around on our roads, we’re just gonna primarily laugh it off, call it “a random bad day,” or “crazy crash Sunday,” and share cool photos of flipped over cars and annihilated storefronts.

Because we gotta drive and, if nobody with a badge is looking, we gotta get there as fast as we possibly can. Or faster that we possibly can, in many, far too many, cases.