6,398 and 6,335
Two numbers from 2023. Nearly identical. Both represent a kind of death that was preventable. Both represent a system that stopped short of the people who needed it most. In 2023, 6,398 veterans died by suicide . Approximately 17.5 per day. The number comes from the VA's National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report. It has been cited in congressional testimony, policy proposals, and veterans' advocacy campaigns. It appears, regularly, in places designed to generate concern. In the same year, 6,335 motorcyclists died in crashes . Approximately 17.4 per day. The number comes from NHTSA. It appears in highway safety reports and motorcycle advocacy campaigns, and in the "motorcycles are dangerous" conversation I deal with professionally. These numbers are not equivalent. The mechanisms are different. The populations are different. The pain of each death lands differently on the people who survived it. I am not equating them. I am placing them next to each ot...
