4 ms·
> Roadway fatalities are soaring at a rate not seen in 50 years, resulting from crashes, collisions and other incidents caused by drivers. The whole premise of
by maho 10y ago
> Roadway fatalities are soaring at a rate not seen in 50 years, resulting from crashes, collisions and other incidents caused by drivers.
The whole premise of the article seems wrong. According to https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_motor_vehicle_deaths_in_U.S._by_year https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_motor_vehicle_deaths... [1] the rate of traffic fatalities has declined markedly in the last years. It has declined per inhabitants, it has declined per vehicle miles traveled, and it has even declined absolutely! In the last 10 years, it went from 42000 deaths per year to 32000 deaths per year. This is an incredible success! Driving in the U.S. remains significantly more dangerous than in other first world countries (compare Europe, or even Germany, where there is no speedlimit on most sections of the Autobahn). But the gap is fortunately closing.
It would be fascinating to read about how the increased safety was achieved.
[1] The wikipedia article does not contain information on the year 2015. The NYT article uses the increase from 2014-2015 as basis for the claim that roadway fatalities are soaring.
- orblivion 10y agoThese folks are always doing research on car safety features, presumably trying to reduce insurance premiums being paid out: http://www.iihs.org/ http://www.iihs.org/ You'll hear IIHS ratings in car commercials alongside the government's safety ratings. What's interesting to me is that your source and the NYT are saying opposite things (???)
- ams6110 10y agoMy first guess would be that cars are simply safer than they've ever been. You're more likely to survive a crash. Driving in the US is less safe because there's almost no barrier to getting a driver's license. Be at least 16 years old, pass a simple written test, a vision check, and a very basic road test, and you're good to go.
- kevindong 10y agoIt's legitimately absurd how easy it is to get a driver's license in the US. I got mine at 16.75 after doing a quick (as in, it took me <10 minutes) multiple choice "test" and a 20 minute drive around town.
- toast0 10y agoNot having a driver's license is not a significant barrier to driving; it just makes it harder to get insurance and register a vehicle, and makes any traffic stop a big deal. There's some amount of societal good done by having looser standards for a license to keep more vehicles registered and more drivers fiscally responsible[1]. [1] generally through insurance
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- honkhonkpants 10y agoIn 2015 traffic fatalities shot up 8% vs the prior year. This is the most recent data we have. https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/812269 https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/... Regarding your last point, the US is not catching up with the other countries, it is falling behind. In the last decade US fatalities have fallen by a few points but in Germany they fell by half.