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> The one thing that has got much worse is traffic Where has traffic gotten much worse? E.g. here's the US statistics on traffic deaths since the 1920s: https
by avar 8y ago
> The one thing that has got much worse is traffic
Where has traffic gotten much worse? E.g. here's the US statistics on traffic deaths since the 1920s:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/US_traffic_deaths_per_VMT%2C_VMT%2C_per_capita%2C_and_total_annual_deaths.png https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/US_traff...
In terms of absolute numbers traffic deaths today are at the same level as the 1950s, but as the chart also shows the population has more than doubled. Statistics in any developed western country are likely to look the same.
Traffic deaths per million people are down to the levels of the 1920s, where there were much fewer cars, and the 1920s are a period where it would have been typical to kick your kids out at sunrise and expect them to be back before sundown.
We live in the safest period in human history, parents are just being paranoid.
- tonyedgecombe 8y agoVehicle miles travelled has gone through the roof in that time, look at the blue line on your chart. parents are just being paranoid Or perhaps they are behaving rationally given the amount of traffic on the roads, those figures might have been worse otherwise.
- avar 8y agoDistance traveled has gone through the roof, but at the same time deaths per million people has been going down. Clearly "the amount of traffic on the roads" isn't a rational indicator for how paranoid you should be about traffic.
- tonyedgecombe 8y agoNo it isn't clear, the obvious answer is parents reacted to a risk and in doing so kept their children safe.