Taking Credit

     A story in this morning's Birmingham News has Governor Riley taking credit for a drop in highway fatalities. But you don't have to go far to call that into question.

     Are Alabama's fatalities down? No question. But look at the statistics in this National Highway Transportation Safety Administration page for the past five years and click on other states...Georgia, Tennessee, Mississippi, Florida, South Carolina..highway fatalities are down in every one of those states too. 

     I'll leave it to someone else to check every state and do a chart, but I'm willing to bet that highway fatalities nationwide have been on a downward trend, and unless driver's across the country have simply been inspired from afar by The Riley Administration's efforts, there's something else going on.

     Elected officials generally love to take credit for success that is really out of their hands, and yet blame outside forces for failures. It's a national economic downturn, but a local success in lowering unemployment.

     With crime down across the country, watch for states and agencies grabbing the credit for that too.
     There's no doubt that some state agency programs in Alabama are helping keep the state's roadways safer. But let's not grab credit for the big picture reduction in fatalities when virtually all states are experiencing the same drop.

[UPDATE: I'm finally reading the morning Montgomery Advertiser, and there's a story there too about a reuction in fatalities, with the head of the State Department of Public Safety warning about an increase if the agency funding continues to be cut. Col. Chris Murphy says the reduction in trooper-worked fatalities is twice the national average.]