4 ms·
It's not irrational at all. Car crashes are the leading cause of death for people aged 5-29 [1]. Even if there are other, larger, causes of death, that still d
by fooblitzky 7y ago
It's not irrational at all. Car crashes are the leading cause of death for people aged 5-29 [1].
Even if there are other, larger, causes of death, that still doesn't make it irrational to want a city where one major cause of death for children has been eliminated. Especially when the cause of death in question is something as unnecessary as using a car to move around a city.
[1] https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/road-traffic-injuries https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/road-traffi...
[2] https://www.nsc.org/driveithome https://www.nsc.org/driveithome
- novok 7y agoHow much of these deaths are passengers inside the car vs outside?
- the8472 7y ago5-29 doesn't exactly mean children playing in the road, it can also be drunk teenagers and their car encountering a tree.
- magduf 7y agoNot only is it not irrational, we're also ignoring what we're being forced to give up because of all these cars. Kids can't just run or bike around their neighborhoods safely without worrying about (or their parents worrying about) them being killed. So kids are just staying inside all the time, playing video games and getting fat.
- tptacek 7y agoThe streets in my neighborhood are crammed full of kids walking, playing, and biking. Maybe this is an idiosyncrasy of the neighborhood you live in, and not a generalizable truth about America and cars.
- magduf 7y agoI'm quite sure what you describe is not at all normal for suburban America. Maybe there's a few pockets here and there where kids have found some safe spaces, such as in cul-de-sacs, but overall subdivisions have too many speeding drivers for kids to be safe leaving their yard.
- tptacek 7y agoWell, I'm in Oak Park, a dense adjacent suburb of Chicago, there are cars everywhere, and there are kids on every street. Is Chicago somehow special?
- magduf 7y agoOk, so there's cars speeding around your neighborhoods, and kids playing on these very same streets without somehow getting hit by all the speeding cars? Sorry, I don't buy it.
- tptacek 7y agoThat is indeed what is happening. It's how I remember things growing up on the south side of Chicago, and how things were in Ann Arbor when we lived there with our young kids, as well.
- magduf 7y agoSo you let your young (under 10yo) kids bumble around on bicycles in the streets with traffic whizzing by at 30-45mph?
- kasey_junk 7y agoWhy are you assuming that traffic is moving at 30-45 mph through a neighborhood. In my neighborhood the speed limit is universally 25 and the stop signs & one way streets keep traffic speeds down. My son doesn’t know how to ride a bike yet but there are certainly under 10 yo all around riding in the streets. Further my son does walk to the park down the street by himself or with friends with the usual guidance about cars (“look both ways” etc).