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Abu Dhabi Traffic Accidents Dropped 40% During the BlackBerry Outage

theatlanticwire.com

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Re: Abu Dhabi Traffic Accidents Dropped 40% During the BlackBerry Outage

#31

Post by cstross »

matwood wrote: post #28
mootothemax wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which part? seems commonsense that bike riding would be more dangerous than car driving...not everything needs a dataset when simple physics would suffice. This part: the negatives are pollution/lung issues This part: reasonably high likelihood of injury or death And this part: compared to other forms of transport From your latest comment, this part: seems commonsense that bike riding would be more dangerous than car…

Most of the answers boil down to depends where you live. When I lived in Denver there were tons of bike only trails, the air was usually great, and lots of people biked. Biking there was a way of life for many people. Where I live now, the air is great, but there are few if any bike lanes. Yet, I still see cyclists going down 2 lane roads with traffic going by them at 50MPH. An accident is bound to happen, and over t…

The issue is not that bicycling is hazardous; the issue is that drivers are inattentive.

Here in the UK, around 90% of road traffic accidents are attributable to driver error.

We badly need to reach the era of self-driving cars, so that folks who'd rather be checking their email can do so without endangering the rest of us, and so that cyclists can ride the highways safely again (or at least as safely as they did prior to 1910 or thereabouts).

Re: Abu Dhabi Traffic Accidents Dropped 40% During the BlackBerry Outage

#32

Post by praptak »

nostromo wrote: post #3

Not to be overly suspicious, but it may be a hyped-up or cherry-picked statistic. The two sources in the article are the Chief of Dubai Police, and the director of the Abu Dhabi Police traffic department, who didn't give any further details; the paper itself is state run. "Two weeks ago, Abu Dhabi Police announced a campaign against motorists who use their phones while at the wheel." ... "Gen Tamim likewise warned th…

My thoughts exactly. What is the normal variance of per-day numbers of accidents in both cities?

The story shares a lot with the alleged Blackout Baby Boom, which turned out to be utter bollocks: http://www.snopes.com/pregnant/blackout.asp

Re: Abu Dhabi Traffic Accidents Dropped 40% During the BlackBerry Outage

#33

Post by ern »

iaskwhy wrote: post #9
culebron wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No I can't :) But some societies have quit drinking hard or smoking, so getting off a widely accepted addiction is possible.

And that happened because those things have some very visible bad effects (images of cancer all over packages in Europe) and even then there are like 30% smokers on my country. Assuming shock and visible pain are the only way to end such a popular addiction it's going to be tough to end our digital ones. But at least you showed it's possible, that's something!

Smartpones can already detect that you are travelling above a certain speed on a public road and display a notification that texting while driving is dangerous. Not something I would endorse (too many false positives), but I wouldn't be surprised to see it, either as a result of a law, or as a voluntary "enhancement".

Re: Abu Dhabi Traffic Accidents Dropped 40% During the BlackBerry Outage

#34

Post by [deleted] »

brador wrote: post #29
fgm2r wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For example "pollution/lung issues". After reading http://bicycles.stackexchange.com/questions/2170/is-pollutio... I didn't think that it would be problematic.

The cited doc doesn't take into account the deep breathing that bicyclists do, leading the pollutants deeper into the lungs. So yes, there may be more in the car, but I'd argue it's doing far more damage to the cyclist. The regular coughing fits many suffer (Similar to smokers) attest to that.

[deleted]

Re: Abu Dhabi Traffic Accidents Dropped 40% During the BlackBerry Outage

#36

Post by dquigley »

ChrisLTD wrote: post #30

Over the past couple of years I've noticed that when I pass someone driving erratically or abnormally slow, they are more often than not futzing with their phone (texting or talking). This is the kind of driving that ten years ago I would have attributed to drunkenness. It's a serious factor in my desire to move somewhere where I don't need a car to get around.

But when you live in the city like I do, just crossing the street can be made dangerous by these same people.

[EDIT] Plus people walking and texting in the city can be just as bad when driving in Chicago when they walk out into an intersection without looking.

Re: Abu Dhabi Traffic Accidents Dropped 40% During the BlackBerry Outage

#37

Post by Symmetry »

brador wrote: post #11
ck2 wrote: post #10

As a person who has never texted (seriously) I've started to notice an alarming number of people holding and looking at their phones while they drive in my town. Makes me afraid to use the bicycle lane anymore. I sure hope police/insurance companies are looking at cellphone records after accidents to fine people appropriately for this kind of behavior.

Aside...but, why do you ride a bike on road? Yes, there are health benifits from the exercise and joy of riding a bike, but the negatives are pollution/lung issues and reasonably high likelihood of injury or death compared to other forms of transport. As the risk of injury/death rises along with driver carelessness, is there a point at which you would reduce or stop your on road bike usage?

Its certainly dangerous, but the benefit of the exercise is enough that bikers still live several years longer, on average, than people who take cars to work.

Re: Abu Dhabi Traffic Accidents Dropped 40% During the BlackBerry Outage

#39

Post by torontos »

ck2 wrote: post #10

As a person who has never texted (seriously) I've started to notice an alarming number of people holding and looking at their phones while they drive in my town. Makes me afraid to use the bicycle lane anymore. I sure hope police/insurance companies are looking at cellphone records after accidents to fine people appropriately for this kind of behavior.

Why haven't you texted? It's very convenient.
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