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Why Cars Will Kill 30,000 Americans This Year

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Re: Why Cars Will Kill 30,000 Americans This Year

#31

Post by trothamel »

In 2004, 42,836 Americans were killed in motor vehicle accidents. So this number actually represents a huge improvement.

Something to realize is that potential replacements to cars are not that much safer. Highway travel is responsible for 7.7 deaths per billion passenger-miles. Mass transit is responsible for 5.4 deaths per billion passenger-miles. Given the less-direct routings used by transit, it's not totally clear this is a meaningful difference.

All of this sucks - but it's the price we pay for being able to move a long distance quickly, something that seems to be a net benefit to society. (How many lives are saved by ambulances each year? How about by being able to easily visit a doctor?)

These are all statistics for the US in 2011. Sources are:

http://www.rita.dot.gov/bts/sites/rita.dot.gov.bts/files/pub... http://www.rita.dot.gov/bts/sites/rita.dot.gov.bts/files/pub... http://www.rita.dot.gov/bts/sites/rita.dot.gov.bts/files/pub...

Re: Why Cars Will Kill 30,000 Americans This Year

#32

Post by happyscrappy »

tokenadult wrote: post #25

The death rate per miles driven in the United States has fallen dramatically in my lifetime, and I can remember when the annual number of deaths was much higher.[1] That said, the article makes a very interesting claim about attitudes that we should all follow to the end of the article for further discussion here: "There’s an open secret in America: If you want to kill someone, do it with a car. As long as you’re sob…

Pretending kids were better protected in any context in 1914 is absurd.

Re: Why Cars Will Kill 30,000 Americans This Year

#33

Post by rdl »

abstractbill wrote: post #8
TylerE wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because you WANT it to deform. A stiff structure would increase deceleration on the occupants - in addition to being more likely to get in accident in the first place - additional weight will cause the vehicle to brake less rapidly, be more likely to roll over, etc, in addition to reducing efficiency.

I've often wondered about this. Instead of just having a single thin metal skin that deforms, wouldn't it be even better to have multiple skins sandwiching a kind of honeycomb structure? That way you have even more stuff to deform and absorb the impact.

They do this; for front (especially) and rear impact, you have the entire crumple zone, with lots of cross-hatched struts and other components to take away energy in deformation.

There are various side impact technologies to try to 1) prevent ultimate penetration and 2) absorb energy. The problem is the doors need to be relatively thin, relatively light, and contain a bunch of other components, as well as function as doors. Multiple layers is one.

The best right now seems to be use the door to prevent penetration, and use a side curtain airbag to reduce peak acceleration on passenger (along with seat design and seat belts).

I personally picked used cars no earlier than ABS and side curtain airbags whenever friends asked for cheap used car options.

Re: Why Cars Will Kill 30,000 Americans This Year

#34

Post by rangibaby »

ryandrake wrote: post #13
AnimalMuppet wrote: post #6

"Murder Machines"? Come on. Not all deaths are murder. We Americans have this idea that nothing bad should ever happen, that we should find a way to prevent it. It's a goal to shoot for, certainly. But calling it murder if you don't reach that goal? No. Can we climb down from the overheated rhetoric? It smells like propaganda.

Also, cars are not killing people. Drivers are. Unless we're talking about self-driving cars that spontaneously turn themselves on, back down the driveway, and mow down pedestrians on their own.

Two by Stephen King: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085333/ http://home.loloyd.com/ebooks1/Stephen%20King%20(Bibliograph...

Re: Why Cars Will Kill 30,000 Americans This Year

#35

Post by [deleted] »

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #6

"Murder Machines"? Come on. Not all deaths are murder. We Americans have this idea that nothing bad should ever happen, that we should find a way to prevent it. It's a goal to shoot for, certainly. But calling it murder if you don't reach that goal? No. Can we climb down from the overheated rhetoric? It smells like propaganda.

[deleted]

Re: Why Cars Will Kill 30,000 Americans This Year

#36

Post by Crito »

ansimionescu wrote: post #2

In Romanian 'car crash' is called literally 'accident' [0]. Something that's always baffled me is how friggin' thin the metal plates that make up the car are. Why the fuck does a whole industry consider this normal?! [1] Edit: thanks for the info (and for the downvotes 0: http://translate.google.com/#en/ro/car%20crash 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhCXFsQ6kKQ

Car crashes are often called "accidents" in America too. I found it interesting and insightful when my driving instructor back in highschool spent a good 10 minutes ranting about there not being any such thing as a car 'accident' (students mentioning the word "accident" later in the course were scolded, to drive home the point). Obviously you can dream up scenarios that you might be able to really call an accident, but the point was that even when legal blame or liability cannot be found, nearly all car crashes could have been prevented by both drivers driving more defensively and being more alert.

Edit

""You can do things to reduce your risk of accidents" is a vital message, using words in an atypical way can be a pedagogical tool to drive it home"

That was the instructors intent. He wasn't trying to propose a new way for insurance companies or the courts to look at liability, but rather trying to combat thought terminating cliches like "shit happens" (by arguably introducing his own).

Re: Why Cars Will Kill 30,000 Americans This Year

#37

Post by lutorm »

tokenadult wrote: post #25

The death rate per miles driven in the United States has fallen dramatically in my lifetime, and I can remember when the annual number of deaths was much higher.[1] That said, the article makes a very interesting claim about attitudes that we should all follow to the end of the article for further discussion here: "There’s an open secret in America: If you want to kill someone, do it with a car. As long as you’re sob…

Your edit is an important point: As far as I am aware, there are no safety standards or ratings for how likely a vehicle is to injure occupants of other vehicles, let alone unprotected pedestrians or bicyclists. If anything, the focus on occupant safety to the exclusion of others has supported the "race to the top" in terms of vehicle mass and size.

Re: Why Cars Will Kill 30,000 Americans This Year

#38

Post by nostromo »

tokenadult wrote: post #25

The death rate per miles driven in the United States has fallen dramatically in my lifetime, and I can remember when the annual number of deaths was much higher.[1] That said, the article makes a very interesting claim about attitudes that we should all follow to the end of the article for further discussion here: "There’s an open secret in America: If you want to kill someone, do it with a car. As long as you’re sob…

I don't think the solution to unsafe roads is to throw everyone that is at-fault in an accident in jail.

I understand the frustration cyclists have with auto traffic, but we've seen a million times that harsher penalties don't always have the intended outcome. And we have a habit in the US of using prison as the answer for every malady.

Instead, I think the answer is better road design, separating cars and cyclists using dedicated lanes, and automated vehicles.

Also, according to this report, pedestrian fatalities are also on a long-term downward trend, even without correcting for increased traffic: http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/safety/pedbike...

Re: Why Cars Will Kill 30,000 Americans This Year

#39

Post by _delirium »

kiba wrote: post #7

It's such a shame. The automobile is built as a requirement to live in society rather than something that complement and argumented our lifestyle.

Really depends on where you live, but unfortunately true for much of the U.S. and Canada. Not true in the biggest North American city (NYC), though. Also not true in much of Europe.

Re: Why Cars Will Kill 30,000 Americans This Year

#40

Post by pyrocat »

happyscrappy wrote: post #32
tokenadult wrote: post #25

The death rate per miles driven in the United States has fallen dramatically in my lifetime, and I can remember when the annual number of deaths was much higher.[1] That said, the article makes a very interesting claim about attitudes that we should all follow to the end of the article for further discussion here: "There’s an open secret in America: If you want to kill someone, do it with a car. As long as you’re sob…

Pretending kids were better protected in any context in 1914 is absurd.

That quote was specifically about attitudes towards cars, not statistics for mortality rates.
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