The House Always Wins, While the Streets Hold No Secrets: The Dangers of Driving in Las Vegas

If you seek a live demonstration of the rules governing probability, mathematics and statistics, go to Las Vegas; because, despite the city's slogan that "What Happens Here, Stays Here," there are a great many things that do not stay within the guest rooms, hotels and casinos of this desert getaway, or the Silver State of Nevada.

Take, for example, the city's treacherous drivers and high number of traffic accidents and fatalities.

The figures associated with this phenomenon should give pause to any gambler before that person makes the ultimate gamble of trying to cross the street.

Simply stated, Las Vegas is a dangerous place for pedestrians because the area is ninth out of 51 urban regions—behind Detroit, and ahead of Baltimore—in terms of the percentage of traffic deaths for men and women walking the city's streets.

According to the most recent study, in 2014, by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) of Clark County, Nevada, wherein lies Las Vegas: An estimated 32,675 car crash fatalities mark that year of living dangerously, fueled by drunk driving, distracted driving, speeding, and the failure among drivers and passengers to wear seat belts.

NHTSA further reveals that motor vehicle crashes exact $871 billion in economic costs and social consequences, or nearly $900 per person in the United States.

Consider, too, Allstate America's Best Drivers Report, which ranks Las Vegas 113th out of the country's 200 largest cities involving the frequency of car collisions.

That means drivers in Las Vegas are 17% more likely to have an automobile accident than the national average, which amounts to a collision every 8.5 years for people driving in "Sin City."

I cite these findings as proof of many things, chief among them, the need for the public to have a better sense of the rules that influence the likelihood of, say, winning at blackjack versus confronting the roadways of Las Vegas.

As a scientist, I believe it is the failure to know this material—it is ignorance of these facts—that worsens this otherwise avoidable set of circumstances.

"The stories are in the statistics," says Ramzy Ladah of the Ladah Law Firm, PLLC. "Unless there is greater awareness of these risks, and until the innocent survivors of these collisions get justice for themselves and their loved ones, these tragedies will persist."

As this infographic illustrates, Las Vegas is a gamble for drivers and pedestrians: It has no winners, only less physically harmed and emotionally traumatized victims than a handful of other cities.

Solving this problem should be a public health priority.

Educating residents of, and visitors to, Las Vegas about these accidents should be a moral necessity and a fiduciary responsibility.

The urgency of the situation demands informed judgment by our business leaders, and diligence of the highest order from our civic officials.

We cannot allow these collisions to accelerate beyond our collective ability to do something—anything—to save lives, and reduce the financial and personal toll these accidents cause.

In so many words: Know the stakes, so you can beat the odds—and win by sparing yourself the pain and suffering of a serious automobile crash.

Save your life, and the lives of other innocents on the road.