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The average American has the same life expectancy as the worst part of England

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Re: The average American has the same life expectancy as the worst part of England

#271

Post by amrocha »

drdec wrote: post #154
sammalloy wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Cars are getting so big that people can’t drive them. While controversial because car companies in the US intentionally chose to market large SUVs to the public, there is some evidence that smaller vehicles are safer and that auto manufacturers have doubled down on unsafe vehicles. Why this is the case, isn’t exactly known, but one of the theories is that bad drivers will get behind bigger cars and take more risks.…

> car companies in the US intentionally chose to market large SUVs to the public, This didn't happen in a vacuum. Poorly written fuel efficiency regulations incentivized automakers to do this.

They weren't "poorly written" as much as "lawmakers accepted bribes to add exemptions for semis"

Re: The average American has the same life expectancy as the worst part of England

#272

Post by amrocha »

HEmanZ wrote: post #161
drdec wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> car companies in the US intentionally chose to market large SUVs to the public, This didn't happen in a vacuum. Poorly written fuel efficiency regulations incentivized automakers to do this.

My unscientific pet theory is that poorly built/zoned neighborhoods and cities, designed as if every human needs to drive a giant car at all times, are to blame more

Neighborhoods are built slower than cars are, and the increase in car size has outpaced construction. Sure we should fix our neighborhoods, but they're not the main reason behind increasing car sizes.

Re: The average American has the same life expectancy as the worst part of England

#273

Post by amrocha »

smegger001 wrote: post #147
LanceH wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Smaller cars are more dangerous in a multi-car accident. Most accidents only involve a single car. There is less control in larger vehicles. Everyone thinks they are a better driver than they are and the only way they'll end up in an accident is if someone else hits them. Add all this up and many want to drive larger cars.

>Everyone thinks they are a better driver than they are and the only way they'll end up in an accident is if someone else hits them. I hear this a lot and wonder how true it is because I personally think i am a horrible driver and can't wait until actually safe fully self driving cars take away my need to drive. on the other had a drive a small car and want a smaller one despite sharing the roads with behemoth raised…

Self driving cars are never coming in a form that would allow you to absolve yourself of responsibility for driving

Re: The average American has the same life expectancy as the worst part of England

#274

Post by desas »

jamiegreen wrote: post #270
bilbo0s wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Woah! Deaths by billion vehicle miles in UK - 5.2. In US - 12.5. (both have tens of thousands of KSI, but the US has over twice as many per cap. In fact, way, more KSI from car accidents than even gun related homicide in the US. I hadn't realized that!) Deaths by gun related homicide in UK - 200. In US - 20000. (Both numbers pale in comparison to motor vehicle deaths, but there are a lot more in the US. Probably to b…

The road deaths surprise me the most , as most American roads are big and straight and most British roads are small and squiggly!

I can guess a few reasons:

* Cars tend to be bigger i.e. more dangerous in the US

* Drink driving seems to be more acceptable in the USA.

* The driving test in the UK is much tougher than even the toughest us state

* Most of the US don't have mandatory annual vehicle inspections to check they're safe and roadworthy

Re: The average American has the same life expectancy as the worst part of England

#275

Post by Schroedingersat »

LanceH wrote: post #266
Schroedingersat wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Smaller cars are more dangerous given an accident is already occurring between multiple cars. Again, you're victim blaming here. The small car is not causing the danger. T-shirts are not more dangerous than guns just because someone firing a gun randomly into a crowd is less likely to get hurt than someone in the crowd wearing a t-shirt.

Still not victim blaming, go back and read the whole thing again. Which car is safer if you're choosing a car to be in? big or small? The bigger is safer and the smaller is more dangerous (to be in), in a multi-car accident. My whole post was on the rationalization of the choice of size of car. Language matters, as you say. It is about people not choosing the smaller car and not being the victim due to driving a smal…

The small car is safer to be in. The person with the small car is causing less danger.

You are participating in the victim blaming and the arms race by conflating the externalisation of risk with safety. And there is no need to aggregate to see the effect. It is present in every individual case.

The person in the big car is not being safer, they are being more dangerous and more selfish. Just because they perceive that their selfishness is exceeding the added danger (something not borne out by the stats) does not justify it. Acknowledging the framing of the auto industry is making the problem worse.

Re: The average American has the same life expectancy as the worst part of England

#276

Post by amrocha »

anon291 wrote: post #233
Teever wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's so bizarre that America is the only country in the world that seems to face these kinds of problems. As a Canadian who grew up in a household with a dozen firearms, I never once touched those firearms, and hardly ever saw them until I was taken to the range by my father and taught how to use them.

America is the only first world country to border South and Central America, which is the region of the world with a homicide rate orders of magnitude above any other. It is no surprise violence spills over due to proximity.

Are you seriously blaming the US's horrible society on all the latam countries they deliberately destabilized?

Re: The average American has the same life expectancy as the worst part of England

#277

Post by arpinum »

jamiegreen wrote: post #270
bilbo0s wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Woah! Deaths by billion vehicle miles in UK - 5.2. In US - 12.5. (both have tens of thousands of KSI, but the US has over twice as many per cap. In fact, way, more KSI from car accidents than even gun related homicide in the US. I hadn't realized that!) Deaths by gun related homicide in UK - 200. In US - 20000. (Both numbers pale in comparison to motor vehicle deaths, but there are a lot more in the US. Probably to b…

The road deaths surprise me the most , as most American roads are big and straight and most British roads are small and squiggly!

Big and straight allows higher speeds and less need to pay attention. Lane width is a major contributor to the actual speed driven.

Re: The average American has the same life expectancy as the worst part of England

#278

Post by bitwize »

zol wrote: post #236
bitwize wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The full text of the amendment is pretty clear that "a well-regulated militia" depends upon "the right of the people to keep and bear arms", it does not limit that right. In order to train farmers and craftsmen into an effective reserve fighting force, they have to have weapons of their own they can practice with. Times have changed, obviously, and civil society no longer depends on citizen firearm ownership. You can…

Since the second amendment doesn’t specify what arms I have the right to bear does that mean I should be allowed to wander down to my local gun store to pick up a surface to air missile so that I can shoot down an airliner? Of course not, that would be insane. So why not put similar limits on automatic weapons that can mow down an auditorium full of kids?

Automatic weapons that can mow down an auditorium are already illegal without a special license.

What's needed is a ban on semiauto rifles and pistols in civilian hands without a license. While we're doing that, may as well restrict all firearms.

Re: The average American has the same life expectancy as the worst part of England

#279

Post by amrocha »

sobkas wrote: post #172
Gigachad wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Phones exist everywhere. Why would Americans be more affected?

> Phones exist everywhere. Why would Americans be more affected? Because with advent of SUVs you can't actually see most of the things that you normally would see through your car window. Because SUVs are bigger people believe they are safer, they are deathtraps on wheels for everyone involved. Also because they are bigger drivers believe they can bully everyone else on the street or just don't pay any attention to w…

Right so not the phones then

Re: The average American has the same life expectancy as the worst part of England

#280

Post by cal85 »

noelherrick wrote: post #262

The solution to this is known by everyone, including those who will fain ignorance. Implement universal healthcare (including mental health), regulate guns (insurance, registration, training, buybacks, red flag laws) including banning weapons of war, build public transportation and transition away from car-mandatory living in all but the most rural areas, and push for democratically-controlled unions and worker co-op…

I happen to generally agree with you on the policies, but comments like this make it much more difficult. It’s intellectually shameful to assert up front that anyone who disagrees with your prescription for society must be just pretending. And then to go on to rant about “psychopaths” and “doom” and “taking our power back”. You contribute nothing here.
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