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In the US, cars kill more people than opiods, more people than guns. If you're under 35, your highest chance of dying is in a car crash. After 35, it's heart

In the US, cars kill more people than opiods, more people than guns. If you're under 35, your highest chance of dying is in a car crash. After 35, it's heart attacks and diabetes; in other words, severe lack of exercise because we drive everywhere. It's truly the silent health epidemic of our time. Of course, you won't see improvement any time soon. Every bike lane or safe street initiative is met with "But my parking!" Every fatal accident due to driver intoxication, negligence, or road rage is dismissed by judges and juries alike because "That's just how it is".

shrimp_emoji 9y ago
The answer is not to surrender the comfort and convenience of cars for the utter misery of being exposed to the HARSHNESS of the elements on longer commutes; it's to fight comfort and convenience with MORE comfort and convenience! Staying at home, working via VR telepresence, eating liquid soylent pumped directly to the home like water and gas.
- Steltek 9y ago
  Skipping over what I'm pretty sure is sarcasm, never leaving your house isn't a really great long term strategy. Unfortunately, what I believe to be the ideal solution: denser living, better public transit (high freq. w/ bus lanes would be cheap and effective), and pedestrian-first streets (sidewalk/bike area = car area); is simply a non-starter for most of the US. Outside of coastal cities, most Americans can't even imagine what that's like without immediately jumping to visions of Manhattan urban canyons (not even Queens). And even then, as this article points, Manhattan is not some oasis of car-free lifestyle either.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
dsfyu404ed 9y ago
> Every fatal accident due to driver intoxication, negligence, or road rage is dismissed by judges and juries alike Do you honestly believe there's even a shred of truth to this? Vehicle accidents where people get hurt typically result in pretty severe punishment if there's even a hint of some performance impairing drug (e.g. alcohol) or malicious intent involved.
- jessaustin 9y ago
  Yes the automobile industry through their sock-puppet MADD have very effectively divided "bad" dangerous drivers (impaired by intoxication) from "good" dangerous drivers (impaired by literally anything else). The only way a pedestrian death gets prosecuted is if prosecutors can prove the driver and not the pedestrian was drunk. Without intoxication, the only way such a death gets prosecuted is if the pedestrian comes from a politically-connected family. Even with driver intoxication, "victim was on a bike" is often completely extenuating.
- Steltek 9y ago
  I'm most familiar with the Northeast... The Globe did a study of DUI cases and found greater than 85% of them were dismissed. All of the recent high profile bike fatalities in the Boston area resulted in no arrests, let alone penalties, despite the driver being at fault. An SUV rolled over and killed 4 pedestrians on the sidewalk in the Back Bay. No arrests because the police couldn't determine which person in the vehicle was driving. The case that will forever be burned into my head is Allison Lau in Queens. A 3yo in a crosswalk with her grandmother. The driver ran right over them, killing her. He lied to the police, saying the girl ran into the street and there was nothing he could do. Dashcam from another vehicle later showed he was on his phone when he was turning left. After public outcry, he was finally issued a $50 failure to yield ticket that was later dismissed.

shrimp_emoji 9y ago

The answer is not to surrender the comfort and convenience of cars for the utter misery of being exposed to the HARSHNESS of the elements on longer commutes; it's to fight comfort and convenience with MORE comfort and convenience! Staying at home, working via VR telepresence, eating liquid soylent pumped directly to the home like water and gas.

Steltek 9y ago
Skipping over what I'm pretty sure is sarcasm, never leaving your house isn't a really great long term strategy. Unfortunately, what I believe to be the ideal solution: denser living, better public transit (high freq. w/ bus lanes would be cheap and effective), and pedestrian-first streets (sidewalk/bike area = car area); is simply a non-starter for most of the US. Outside of coastal cities, most Americans can't even imagine what that's like without immediately jumping to visions of Manhattan urban canyons (not even Queens). And even then, as this article points, Manhattan is not some oasis of car-free lifestyle either.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]

dsfyu404ed 9y ago

> Every fatal accident due to driver intoxication, negligence, or road rage is dismissed by judges and juries alike Do you honestly believe there's even a shred of truth to this? Vehicle accidents where people get hurt typically result in pretty severe punishment if there's even a hint of some performance impairing drug (e.g. alcohol) or malicious intent involved.

jessaustin 9y ago
Yes the automobile industry through their sock-puppet MADD have very effectively divided "bad" dangerous drivers (impaired by intoxication) from "good" dangerous drivers (impaired by literally anything else). The only way a pedestrian death gets prosecuted is if prosecutors can prove the driver and not the pedestrian was drunk. Without intoxication, the only way such a death gets prosecuted is if the pedestrian comes from a politically-connected family. Even with driver intoxication, "victim was on a bike" is often completely extenuating.
Steltek 9y ago
I'm most familiar with the Northeast... The Globe did a study of DUI cases and found greater than 85% of them were dismissed. All of the recent high profile bike fatalities in the Boston area resulted in no arrests, let alone penalties, despite the driver being at fault. An SUV rolled over and killed 4 pedestrians on the sidewalk in the Back Bay. No arrests because the police couldn't determine which person in the vehicle was driving. The case that will forever be burned into my head is Allison Lau in Queens. A 3yo in a crosswalk with her grandmother. The driver ran right over them, killing her. He lied to the police, saying the girl ran into the street and there was nothing he could do. Dashcam from another vehicle later showed he was on his phone when he was turning left. After public outcry, he was finally issued a $50 failure to yield ticket that was later dismissed.