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This is an annoyingly contrived headline and article. First of all, the "World Wars" were centered around a European /Asian conflict. In both cases America ent

by air7 7y ago

This is an annoyingly contrived headline and article. First of all, the "World Wars" were centered around a European /Asian conflict. In both cases America entered the wars several years after they had started, and fought away from home. I'm obviously not disrespecting the "535,000 American military personnel who died in World War I and World War II" but rather pointing out that, arguably, it's a contrived yard stick to measure against as it sounds like more of a monumental figure than it perhaps should. More importantly, since the year 2000 Americans have driven ~60 trillion miles!!! To put that in perspective, the size of our solar system is ~7.5 billion miles, or 8000 times smaller that 60 trillion. Alpha Centauri is "only" 25 trillion miles away. 60 trillion miles is ~10 light years... Given that, I'm not sure 624,000 deaths, which is about 1 death per 100 million miles, is necessarily a lot. --- [0] https://www.bts.gov/content/us-vehicle-miles https://www.bts.gov/content/us-vehicle-miles

melling 7y ago
When it could be two orders of magnitude less, it’s a lot.
romwell 7y ago
>More importantly, since the year 2000 Americans have driven ~60 trillion miles!!! ..so what? That's still over half a million people dead. Here, let me put it in a slightly different light: Critical lack of infrastructure (including public transportation) and horrific zoning that causes ever-increasing amounts of urban sprawl has forced Americans drive an astounding 60 trillion miles since year 2000, killing over half a million of them. From what I know, most of these miles were not driven by choice: people don't choose to work 100 miles away from where they live; and most of these miles are commute miles. Our infrastructure (or lack thereof) is killing us by making us drive more than anywhere else on Earth[1]. (The verbatim title of that article is: "Americans drive more than anyone else in the world, and are dying for it" - and that is what the problem is). [1]https://www.thecarcrashdetective.com/americans-drive-more-dying/ https://www.thecarcrashdetective.com/americans-drive-more-dy...
- austhrow743 7y ago
  >..so what? That's still over half a million people dead. ..so what? Everyone dies. The whole reason traffic deaths or war deaths or any other figure that gets worried about is a concern isn't that people die at all. It's that they died earlier than they otherwise would have. They missed out on life they would have otherwise got to live. So talking about what the living get from that increased chance of early death is clearly relevant to the discussion.
  - benrbray 7y ago
    I think you have a valid point--new technology like roads and cars will always come with some risk. Whether or not we use the technology depends on how comfortable we are with the risk. However, I think there is a lot of evidence (including death statistics) that cars are not worth the risk, compared to alternatives like trains, biking, and walking. Cars and infrastructure to support cars is detrimental to our health, economy, and society in ways that will take decades to correct.
jobigoud 7y ago
> the size of our solar system is ~7.5 billion miles For those wondering this is the radius to the outer edge of the Kuiper belt. 50 AU.

by air7 7y ago

melling 7y ago

When it could be two orders of magnitude less, it’s a lot.

romwell 7y ago

>More importantly, since the year 2000 Americans have driven ~60 trillion miles!!! ..so what? That's still over half a million people dead. Here, let me put it in a slightly different light: Critical lack of infrastructure (including public transportation) and horrific zoning that causes ever-increasing amounts of urban sprawl has forced Americans drive an astounding 60 trillion miles since year 2000, killing over half a million of them. From what I know, most of these miles were not driven by choice: people don't choose to work 100 miles away from where they live; and most of these miles are commute miles. Our infrastructure (or lack thereof) is killing us by making us drive more than anywhere else on Earth[1]. (The verbatim title of that article is: "Americans drive more than anyone else in the world, and are dying for it" - and that is what the problem is). [1]https://www.thecarcrashdetective.com/americans-drive-more-dying/ https://www.thecarcrashdetective.com/americans-drive-more-dy...

austhrow743 7y ago
>..so what? That's still over half a million people dead. ..so what? Everyone dies. The whole reason traffic deaths or war deaths or any other figure that gets worried about is a concern isn't that people die at all. It's that they died earlier than they otherwise would have. They missed out on life they would have otherwise got to live. So talking about what the living get from that increased chance of early death is clearly relevant to the discussion.
- benrbray 7y ago
  I think you have a valid point--new technology like roads and cars will always come with some risk. Whether or not we use the technology depends on how comfortable we are with the risk. However, I think there is a lot of evidence (including death statistics) that cars are not worth the risk, compared to alternatives like trains, biking, and walking. Cars and infrastructure to support cars is detrimental to our health, economy, and society in ways that will take decades to correct.

jobigoud 7y ago

> the size of our solar system is ~7.5 billion miles For those wondering this is the radius to the outer edge of the Kuiper belt. 50 AU.