3 ms·

The difference is that no one (or nearly no one) dies taking the stairs. If you're going to replace one perfectly safe means of travel with another, the new one

The difference is that no one (or nearly no one) dies taking the stairs. If you're going to replace one perfectly safe means of travel with another, the new one should also be perfectly safe. But cars are anything but perfectly safe. In many parts of the world automobile accidents are a leading cause of death. Even in parts of the world where seatbelt laws and stringent safety requirements have reduced automobile deaths, they're still significant. What's worse, unlike other "preventable" causes of death such as smoking and obesity, automobile deaths disproportionately affect the young. For all these reasons, I think the standard for driverless cars should be somewhat relaxed. Unfortunately, I'm guessing the "robots killing humans" mentality may still dominate...but if we can get past that I think driverless cars will have a larger impact on the demographics of death than almost anything else in the last 50 years.

samatman 11y ago
According to this[0] nearly a thousand people in the US died from falling down stairs in 2000. I've injured myself on stairs, albeit not badly, but never in an elevator. http://danger.mongabay.com/injury_death.htm http://danger.mongabay.com/injury_death.htm
seanmcdirmid 11y ago
My dad is getting old, and whenever we have to take the stairs with him, I definitely fear for his life. I'm sure more people die taking stairs than do die taking elevators. The elevator is always the safer option. Unless there is a fire...and even then it's a toss up if you are elderly or have mobility problems.
snogglethorpe 11y ago
... and even worse, cars do not limit themselves to killing their occupants, but are responsible for huge numbers of pedestrian deaths, of which many are not even in the road (deaths involving cars mounting the sidewalk and killing people, or even crashing into buildings and killing people, are a regular occurrence). >< Most of those deaths are caused by horrendously irresponsible and unsafe behavior by drivers. However awful driverless cars are (and I suppose especially in the beginning they will be pretty primitive), the bar is already set really, really, low.

samatman 11y ago

According to this[0] nearly a thousand people in the US died from falling down stairs in 2000. I've injured myself on stairs, albeit not badly, but never in an elevator. http://danger.mongabay.com/injury_death.htm http://danger.mongabay.com/injury_death.htm

seanmcdirmid 11y ago

My dad is getting old, and whenever we have to take the stairs with him, I definitely fear for his life. I'm sure more people die taking stairs than do die taking elevators. The elevator is always the safer option. Unless there is a fire...and even then it's a toss up if you are elderly or have mobility problems.

snogglethorpe 11y ago

... and even worse, cars do not limit themselves to killing their occupants, but are responsible for huge numbers of pedestrian deaths, of which many are not even in the road (deaths involving cars mounting the sidewalk and killing people, or even crashing into buildings and killing people, are a regular occurrence). >< Most of those deaths are caused by horrendously irresponsible and unsafe behavior by drivers. However awful driverless cars are (and I suppose especially in the beginning they will be pretty primitive), the bar is already set really, really, low.