In 2007, 28% of Victorian drivers aged 18 – 25 were killed.

Alcohol is a factor in the road toll, especially for young drivers

What a terrible statistic.

It’s also pretty surprising – at 30 June 2006, 902,796 Victorians were aged 18 – 24. 28% of that is 252,782.

The Victorian road toll in 2007 was 333.

So I looked at a Victorian Government website and found this sentence:

While 18 to 25 year olds represent around 14% of licenced drivers, they accounted for approximately 28% of all drivers killed on Victoria’s roads.

28% of the state road toll was 93. Awful to lose that many young people, but significantly better than losing 252,782 of them.

Checking meaning is important

That first sentence is perfectly acceptable in terms of grammar and spelling, and it makes sense when you read it.

But the authors and editors of that text book (yes, I found that sentence in my daughter’s current VCE text book on health) didn’t check that the correct meaning was being communicated.

There is a huge difference in meaning between 28% of young drivers were killed and 28% of killed drivers were young.

Somewhat detracts from the credibility of that text book, doesn’t it?

Do you think I should read the entire book and check every fact they state, or assume it was a one-off?

* Image courtesy of kozzi