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Growing proof that autonomous cars save lives

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Re: Growing proof that autonomous cars save lives

#571

Post by win311fwg »

InsideOutSanta wrote: post #535
SEJeff wrote: post #377

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US is ~263x larger than the Netherlands landmass wise. It would require a loooot more trains than we have or you have.

The vast size of the country sounds like an argument for trains, rather than against it? Trains are a comparatively cheap way to provide fast transportation between places where people actually live.

Not really. Over short-to-medium distances rail and air have similar door-to-door times, but as a country grows vast and travel is much more likely to happen over long distances then rail is much less compelling. Which means smaller ridership, which makes it difficult to support operations.

The US already had the nation-wide passenger rail system. At one time it was the envy of the world. It'd still be here if the riders were. But they moved on to newer technologies better suited to the landscape.

Re: Growing proof that autonomous cars save lives

#572

Post by zimpenfish »

dddddaviddddd wrote: post #555
jodrellblank wrote: post #270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

National Safety Council says passenger vehicles are 0.46 per 100M miles, trains are 0.01 and busses 0.009. https://injuryfacts.nsc.org/home-and-community/safety-topics...

The best way to reduce driving fatalities is probably to reduce the amount of driving that people do. Excellent public transit, denser cities, better pedestrian / bike infrastructure, mixed-use zoning, etc.

My (simple, naive, etc.) solution is to ban young males from driving until they're 25. Immediate drop in the accident rate plus a clamour for better public transport / bike infrastructure that even the dumbest government couldn't ignore.

(Yes, I know this is completely unworkable, sadly.)

Re: Growing proof that autonomous cars save lives

#573

Post by lynx97 »

rglullis wrote: post #542
lynx97 wrote: post #509

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a blind pedestrian, 95% of the pain I have to endure while out and about is due to lazily parked bikes. IOW, bikes can even hurt people if they are NOT moving and their owner isn't even around.

The solution for this is to improve biking infrastructure.

I doubt that. Across the street of our small organic shop around the corner is a bike parking spot. Still, I recently fall over a bike parked directly in front of the door of said shop. Bike people are lazy more often then not.

Re: Growing proof that autonomous cars save lives

#574

Post by asdff »

mdorazio wrote: post #202
lazyasciiart wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Public transportation must be built by the local government, Amtrak is public transportation. Airlines are pretty close to public transportation. Local government doesn't need to be involved.

To my knowledge there are only a handful of public transit systems in the world that operate at a profit, let alone that operate at enough of a profit to recover construction costs. As in, maybe 5 if you squint really hard. Who do you expect to fund new ones if not the government?

Regional or state is better than local government. Local governments would struggle to raise the required funds for the costs of modern transit and would have a mandate to really support transit within their municipal borders vs a regional solution that is agnostic to the byzantine municipal borders.

Re: Growing proof that autonomous cars save lives

#575

Post by tgsovlerkhgsel »

koyote wrote: post #341
WD-42 wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Autonomous cars are pretty space and energy efficient if they act as public transportation. Cars spend something like 95% of their life parked. If AVs replace personal ownership, that's a HUGE reduction in the number of cars in existence. The future looks like a lot less parking lots and 8 lane suburban stroads.

So at 2am you would have thousands of cars driving around empty? Or would you still need a giant spot of land to park these things outside of peak hour?

The giant spot of land could be in a much less convenient (= valuable) location if the car can take itself to and from there.

Re: Growing proof that autonomous cars save lives

#576

Post by asdff »

pbkompasz wrote: post #532
ericmay wrote: post #452

The safest car is the one that is parked. I’m not anti-car but in terms of safety we should focus more on getting people using bus/rail/bike/walk especially for daily needs. It’s more cost effective too. Autonomous cars are cool and will be great for reducing crashes, but it’s an additive solution, not a subtractive one.

Yes, instead of fixing the problem let's go back 100 years and start walking everywhere. It's easy for someone that works for home or an in office, but most people truly rely on their cars, otherwise they would lose hours everyday...

It is healthy to walk. You should be walking probably an hour a day at least if we are being honest. You are made to hunt and forage all day, not sit down. Use it or lose it.

Re: Growing proof that autonomous cars save lives

#577

Post by artoghrul »

Calling something that kills people but just does it less as "saving lives" is batshit crazy. Looks like people in the US got so brainwashed by the toxic car culture that not killing feels the same as saving lives. It's like calling it a saving when my girlfriend decides NOT to buy something. This whole article is a joke, right? Right???

Re: Growing proof that autonomous cars save lives

#578

Post by asdff »

cloudie78 wrote: post #552

I’ll risk sounding crass to state the quiet part out loud: Majority of car accidents outside of the occasional genuine freak accident are self-inflicted. Call it FAFO or Darwinism, whichever you prefer. I’m saying that having done that myself once in the early days of holding a drivers licence and feeling heroic with my speed and a corner. I was lucky to walk away with minor bruises, mostly to my ego. And wallet. Tha…

People run the stop sign all the time by my house. The highway sounds like a fast n furious movie every night. There's no education shortcoming. They know what they are doing. They know how to go the speed limit and stop for a sign for the DMV test. They know when no one is looking and they can get away with dangerous bullshit.

Certain drivers just need their privileges revoked, cars crushed, and some nights spent in jail if we are being honest.

Re: Growing proof that autonomous cars save lives

#579

Post by rglullis »

lynx97 wrote: post #573
rglullis wrote: post #542

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The solution for this is to improve biking infrastructure.

I doubt that. Across the street of our small organic shop around the corner is a bike parking spot. Still, I recently fall over a bike parked directly in front of the door of said shop. Bike people are lazy more often then not.

If someone parks a car in an illegal area, it can and should be towed. Same for bikes. Part of the needed "biking infrastructure" is proper policing and enforcement.
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