A recent study by the Internet site WalletHub ranks the Sunflower State slightly below the middle of the country in terms of “safest states to live in” at No. 36. Categories of evaluation included personal and residential, financial, roads, workplace and emergency preparedness. Vermont ranked No. 1 overall. Each state is safe from some dangers, but falls prey to others.
Our state’s best performance came in the category of road safety, where we ranked 13th. Somewhat disconcerting, our worst ranking was emergency preparedness, where we finished 44th. For the record, Kansas ranked 23rd in personal and residential, 23rd in financial safety, and 37th in workplace safety.
June is National Safety Month. We can quibble about the value of the WalletHub study, but it’s a safe bet that all of us can do more to protect ourselves and our family members while looking out for the well-being of our fellow Kansans, too. —DR