5 ms·

I wonder whether people complained about "harm to the community" when automobiles came on the scene. The poor horse-and-buggy drivers!

happytoexplain 7y ago
Did they not deserve consideration?
defen 7y ago
In retrospect a better argument may have been the millions of people killed... according to Wikipedia there have been 3,740,769 motor vehicle fatalities in the US in the past century. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_vehicle_fatality_rate_in_U.S._by_year https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_vehicle_fatality_rate_in...
- tzs 7y ago
  ...or maybe not. The per capita death rate from horses and horse drawn vehicles in NYC in 1900 was higher than the per capita death rate from cars in 2003. Same for Chicago comparing horses in 1916 to cars in 1997 [1]. Horse related deaths in early 20th century England and Wales were close to late 20th century rates for cars [2]. That article does point out that we are better at treating people nowadays, so it is possible that many of the horse related fatalities could be people that would have been saved nowadays. A few accounts of the dangers in the pre-car days [3]. [1] https://legallysociable.com/2012/09/07/figures-more-deaths-per-capita-in-horse-accidents-in-nyc-in-1900-than-in-auto-accidents-today/ https://legallysociable.com/2012/09/07/figures-more-deaths-p... [2] https://www.bmj.com/rapid-response/2011/10/31/cars-and-horses https://www.bmj.com/rapid-response/2011/10/31/cars-and-horse... [3] https://www.seacoastonline.com/article/20110107/NEWS/101070332 https://www.seacoastonline.com/article/20110107/NEWS/1010703...
NotSammyHagar 7y ago
My grandfather was from a town in Missouri and told me a story that when he was a kid, his little town had the biggest factory in the world to make a certain item. That item was stirrups and of course there aren't many horse riders and we don't need so many horse product factories. Today his town has no factories and there's basically no town left anymore, just an old building that was the schoolhouse.
sys_64738 7y ago
They probably did and still do given the toxic gases spewed from exhausts.

happytoexplain 7y ago

Did they not deserve consideration?

defen 7y ago

In retrospect a better argument may have been the millions of people killed... according to Wikipedia there have been 3,740,769 motor vehicle fatalities in the US in the past century. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_vehicle_fatality_rate_in_U.S._by_year https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_vehicle_fatality_rate_in...

tzs 7y ago
...or maybe not. The per capita death rate from horses and horse drawn vehicles in NYC in 1900 was higher than the per capita death rate from cars in 2003. Same for Chicago comparing horses in 1916 to cars in 1997 [1]. Horse related deaths in early 20th century England and Wales were close to late 20th century rates for cars [2]. That article does point out that we are better at treating people nowadays, so it is possible that many of the horse related fatalities could be people that would have been saved nowadays. A few accounts of the dangers in the pre-car days [3]. [1] https://legallysociable.com/2012/09/07/figures-more-deaths-per-capita-in-horse-accidents-in-nyc-in-1900-than-in-auto-accidents-today/ https://legallysociable.com/2012/09/07/figures-more-deaths-p... [2] https://www.bmj.com/rapid-response/2011/10/31/cars-and-horses https://www.bmj.com/rapid-response/2011/10/31/cars-and-horse... [3] https://www.seacoastonline.com/article/20110107/NEWS/101070332 https://www.seacoastonline.com/article/20110107/NEWS/1010703...

NotSammyHagar 7y ago

My grandfather was from a town in Missouri and told me a story that when he was a kid, his little town had the biggest factory in the world to make a certain item. That item was stirrups and of course there aren't many horse riders and we don't need so many horse product factories. Today his town has no factories and there's basically no town left anymore, just an old building that was the schoolhouse.

sys_64738 7y ago

They probably did and still do given the toxic gases spewed from exhausts.