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Why we ignore thousands of daily car crashes

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Re: Why we ignore thousands of daily car crashes

#641

Post by scoofy »

oliwarner wrote: post #616

Author obviously has a service to sell but the illustrative comparisons here bother me. Amtrak runs 300 trains a day, very rarely has accidents because the environment is so controlled. The US runs 120 million cars and trucks a day. 93 fatal accidents a day, many through driver fault. The risk profile is entirely different. We expect people to crash cars. It's why cars have seatbelts and airbags, and why Amtrak doesn…

Again... if you don't compare the US to any other countries, this line of reasoning might seem plausible. It's not. The US outpaces comparative countries significantly, exactly because our infrastructure and culture of driving is inherently more unsafe.

Re: Why we ignore thousands of daily car crashes

#642

Post by throwaway0a5e »

6yyyyyy wrote: post #620
MichaelCollins wrote: post #527

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Refusal to drink and drive is not an illusion. I've been refusing to do that successfully my entire life.

But other drivers can drink, and you can't do anything about that. Are you a good enough driver to save yourself in this situation? https://litter.catbox.moe/ed5an4.webm

>Are you a good enough driver to save yourself in this situation?

Are you a good enough pedestrian to dodge a drunk that jumps the curb?

That's a rhetorical question. My point here is that the standard you're trying to apply is an asinine one. Unless you live beside the train station you have some exposure to drunk drivers.

Re: Why we ignore thousands of daily car crashes

#643

Post by zip1234 »

oliwarner wrote: post #616

Author obviously has a service to sell but the illustrative comparisons here bother me. Amtrak runs 300 trains a day, very rarely has accidents because the environment is so controlled. The US runs 120 million cars and trucks a day. 93 fatal accidents a day, many through driver fault. The risk profile is entirely different. We expect people to crash cars. It's why cars have seatbelts and airbags, and why Amtrak doesn…

Automotive crashes are very much preventable. We in fact know how to prevent them. It is partly why the roads in the US are so dangerous.

Re: Why we ignore thousands of daily car crashes

#644

Post by ok_dad »

WalterBright wrote: post #335
ok_dad wrote: post #312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My parents were both in vehicle accident reconstruction for just such things and I don’t even know how to count how many times I watched a car accident reconstruction (dummies in crash test vehicles) end in a dummy being thrown in any direction you could imagine. It might not hit a person but it will hit a car in the other lanes and cause accidents. You’re out of your element here, stick to compilers for once.

Do you know of any such accidents in real life? Do you have any statistics on ejected people causing other accidents? What about when people were saved because they were flung from a car? Like when the car catches fire, falls off a bridge, goes into the river, goes into another lane to be smacked by a truck?

I don't feel like arguing because you're "not even wrong" [0] and I don't have time to educate you or find references you'll find compelling. I would be happy to do so if you want to spend several hours educating me on compiler internals, but I think that probably that's the last thing you want to do today.

I hope you do wear your seatbelt, or at least never get into an accident if not.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Not_even_wrong

Re: Why we ignore thousands of daily car crashes

#645

Post by spankalee »

colpabar wrote: post #575
spankalee wrote: post #421

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoted post unavailable.

If you only care about the black lives ended by white cops, you might not care about black lives.

I think you're proving my point with this response. And if you don't see why, then maybe some deeper reflection is in order.

Re: Why we ignore thousands of daily car crashes

#646

Post by scoofy »

CapitalistCartr wrote: post #44

My kid sister died in a car accident two weeks ago. Now I find the numbers unfathomable. How can 40,000 families be suffering like this, every year?

We don't have to live like this. Don't listen to any of the trolls in this thread that will try to argue that "these deaths are acceptable because driving in cars is great." These tragedies are a result of the choices we've made in developing out transportation infrastructure. Comparable countries, like the UK, France, and Germany have dramatically fewer deaths, because they chose different priorities in developing their transit systems.

Re: Why we ignore thousands of daily car crashes

#647

Post by throwaway0a5e »

vel0city wrote: post #582
nonameiguess wrote: post #503

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amusingly enough, though I didn't witness this and can't verify he was telling the truth anyway, my ex-wife claimed that when she went to traffic school, the instructor there told the class the number one cause of traffic accidents on Texas highways was cars going too slow. But I suppose you could argue it's really the opposite even in those cases, that all of the people cutting you off, deciding to get onto a highwa…

A ton of highway accidents are people changing lanes going way under the average speed of traffic. If everyone was going about the same speed there would be fewer accidents. If everyone is going 75mph and you decide to go 40mph, you're putting yourself and everyone else on that highway in more danger than if you just went 75.

But the accident won't be "your fault" if you're hit from behind and that's what matters more in the minds of those people. It's the Principal Skinner "everyone else is wrong" attitude in real life.

As someone who used to drive a very slow commercial vehicle I absolutely cringe at the people who voluntarily fail to keep up with traffic. It's just not safe and if you're looking in your mirrors you can see all sorts of stupid happen in real time. All sorts of people cutting each other off and getting in each other's way happens as they merge to pass you. All those interactions are potential for something dumb to happen and they are needless.

Re: Why we ignore thousands of daily car crashes

#648

Post by [deleted] »

scoofy wrote: post #646
CapitalistCartr wrote: post #44

My kid sister died in a car accident two weeks ago. Now I find the numbers unfathomable. How can 40,000 families be suffering like this, every year?

We don't have to live like this. Don't listen to any of the trolls in this thread that will try to argue that "these deaths are acceptable because driving in cars is great." These tragedies are a result of the choices we've made in developing out transportation infrastructure. Comparable countries, like the UK, France, and Germany have dramatically fewer deaths, because they chose different priorities in developing t…

[deleted]

Re: Why we ignore thousands of daily car crashes

#649

Post by throwaway0a5e »

BitwiseFool wrote: post #549
namesbc wrote: post #314

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cars should have a regulator installed by the manufacturer to limit speed to 20mph on roads with people, and to 60mph on grade separated highways. This maximum would barely change your time to destination, but it would save thousands of lives per year. - 20mph: 90% survival rate - 30mph: 60% survival rate - 40mph: 20% survival rate https://www.betterstreetschicago.org/blog/chicago-speed-came...

Car manufacturers who voluntarily implemented this would go out of business so fast. Politicians who propose making this mandatory would face constituent uproar. Limiting cars to 20mph on most roads would energize disengaged constituents like you wouldn't believe.

Good. Companies and politicians that favor the vocal few over the masses should face consequences for their actions.

The public gets what it wants. Even if what the public is stupid.

Re: Why we ignore thousands of daily car crashes

#650

Post by zip1234 »

rootusrootus wrote: post #508
notatoad wrote: post #493

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the government already owns the roads and enforces speed limits. speed governors are already required for scooters and e-bikes in many jurisdictions. requiring cars to have the same limiters as scooters if they want to access the government-owned roads is not a huge change in scope.

Even a Tesla can't reliably figure out what the speed limit is sometimes. I don't know that I want a governor that may suddenly decide I can only do 25 mph on the interstate.

Even just capping all road worthy vehicles to 80 would probably save a lot of lives.
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