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Interesting that you consider US highways and streets to be well designed, given that they are objectively substantially more lethal to their users than Europea
by wffurr 8y ago
Interesting that you consider US highways and streets to be well designed, given that they are objectively substantially more lethal to their users than European roads.
- RayVR 8y agoIn what way are they “objectively substantially more lethal?”
- wffurr 8y agoDouble the deaths per VMT. https://www.newsweek.com/2014/04/04/you-drive-american-248061.html https://www.newsweek.com/2014/04/04/you-drive-american-24806...
- RayVR 8y agoI think attributing that to the design of the roads is kinda silly. We have very low standards when it comes to acquiring a license to operate a vehicle.
- wffurr 8y agoI think attributing it to any one cause is kind of silly. It's a fact that American cities are much more car centric with higher speeds and fewer areas with traffic calming measures, all of which make the roads much safer. Daily highway driving is much more common for commutes and errands, suburbs have dangerous arterial street designs. I'm sure there's more to it, such as licensing and vehicle safety measures, but American highway design (and making local roads into mini highways) is a part of it. Also the EU measure is EU-wide, and not all countries in the EU are as strict as say Germany for licensing.
- bane 8y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-related_death_rate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-r...
- wffurr 8y agoYup, sure looks like Europe is substantially safer than the US in that map.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- moogly 8y agoThere might be additional factors. a) training and education - it is way more difficult and takes longer to get a driver's licence in Western Europe than in the US b) mandatory vehicle inspections - I think this varies by state in the US, but even the strictest state legislation is still less strict than Western European countries when it comes to allowing dangerous vehicles on the roads c) less regulation for truck drivers' work hours - I think in the past decade, sleep deprivation amongst transportation workers and the results thereof has received increasing exposure in the press, which is good, but awareness only goes so far
- wffurr 8y agoSure. But highway design, car centric cities, and high-speed suburban arterials are a factor as well. The deaths per VMT measure is EU-wide, not just Western Europe.