Colorado Springs had deadliest year ever out on roads in 2020

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) - Colorado Springs had the deadliest year ever out on the roads in 2020, and police have an important message for drivers.

CSPD originally reported 50 deaths for the year of 2020, until another pedestrian recently died from a December crash, making the total number of deaths 51. In 2019, there were 42. In 2018, there were 48.

“Unfortunately this looks like it might be a trend,” said Sergeant Jim Stinson of CSPD.

In a year where less people were driving and staying home during the pandemic, CSPD couldn’t explain the increase in deaths in 2020. But, officers think a lot of the deaths may be caused by factors within the car.

“People not paying attention. It comes down to speed. It comes down to the distractions that people have, whether it be cell phones, passengers, kids in the back. There’s alcohol that’s obviously involved. People are just so distracted while they’re driving that they’re not paying attention to the road,” said Detective Scott Hayden of CSPD.

CSPD writes every single family who lost a loved one in a traffic-related death a letter of condolence. Pictured in the article are the names of every person who has died on the roads in the last three years.

“There will be a blurb on the media and then they’re kind of forgotten, and so when you just start putting numbers on it, I feel... we feel...that you lose sight of the tragedy that’s going on,” said Stinson.

Police want to remind drivers to keep your eyes on the road, don’t speed or drive under the influence and be careful driving around pedestrians. It could save you or someone else’s life.

“These are things that as a police department, we’re trying our best to lower the numbers through speed enforcement, DUI enforcement, just any kind of traffic enforcement but it comes down to accountability. We can’t control what the drivers are doing and that comes from the people,” said Stinson.