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> the vast majority of cars today simply don't work for a family of five I recently visited Pakistan for the first time, and was amazed to see a family of five

> the vast majority of cars today simply don't work for a family of five I recently visited Pakistan for the first time, and was amazed to see a family of five riding around on a small Honda motorbike. The father was driving, a small child sat in front of the father, the was mother hanging on behind the father, and the oldest daughter sitting on the far back with both legs hanging off to the left while holding an infant. None of them were wearing helmets. It was both terrifying & impressive.

eCa 6y ago
I was in Ukraine in the mid-00s. Saw a five person motorcycle. No helmets, but they had an open side-car so a bit more space. Youngest kid was in a bucket held by big sister.
- j1elo 6y ago
  Add to that a wooden box with a small metal bars through which I could glance a couple of chickens that were being transported by the family, in Vietnam. Amazing. The rate of children deaths or severe injuries caused by motorbike accidents must have been over the roof in these countries.
  - bobbylarrybobby 6y ago
    Must have been? Large parts of Southeast Asia still get around with the whole family on one motorbike today. Not so much in the large cities but once you get outside them, absolutely.
    - bobthepanda 6y ago
      The road deaths are also very large in those countries (though a fair amount of that is also people going high speeds on roads that would not be rated for that speed in a developed country)
safetyengineer 6y ago
Helmets work but after working in automotive safety, motorcycles are death traps. I can't emphasize this enough. They are no automobile, and are not comparable.
- nethunters 6y ago
  What other precautionary methods could help reduce mortality rates of motorcycles?
  - grumple 6y ago
    Build a car around them?
    - nmridul 6y ago
      In India TATA tried that. Built $2000 car (tata nano). Target audience were the bike going families. First , the motor bikes are cheap. So you need car matching that cost and you end up compromising a lot. https://thewire.in/business/tata-nano-why-did-the-people-not-want-the-peoples-car https://thewire.in/business/tata-nano-why-did-the-people-not...
  - SulfurHexaFluri 6y ago
    Keeping your speed under 40km/h would do a lot. And removing cars from streets.
    - PopeDotNinja 6y ago
      Yeah, the average speed of traffic in Pakistan, at least in the areas I visited, was much lower that I'd expect to see in the USA.
      - SulfurHexaFluri 6y ago
        When you look at the curve of chance of death vs speed, it very very rapidly rises. You have very little risk of serious injury at 40km/h and almost certain death at 60km/h
erichocean 6y ago
I saw the same thing in India.
sdenton4 6y ago
I once saw a motorbike with two people and a cow in western Kenya. It wasn't a /big/ cow, but still.
- CinchWrench 6y ago
  I mostly go to /fit/ for lifting advice. I'll have to check out /big/ because i really just want to get cow-huge in 2021.
  - boffinism 6y ago
    Look chums, I know, I get it. Sure. HN is a place for blah blah blah. But did we have to downvote this comment? I can't believe we're 'preserving' the quality of HN by downvoting gems like this.
    - edanm 6y ago
      In general, HN tries to be a place where only informative comments are prized, specifically excluding jokes. There are lots of funny jokes around here (and I don't usually downvote them myself), but the fear is that HN will turn into Reddit, where every post has dozens of joke comments attached. That's fun! I love Reddit. But it's not what HN tries to be.
BurningFrog 6y ago
Saw much of that in Hyderabad 2008. It's one way the lethality of poverty is visible.
fatnoah 6y ago
>> the vast majority of cars today simply don't work for a family of five My wife and I had the minivan discussion. They are amazingly practical when you need to carry vast amounts of crap. Neither of us was particularly interested in driving around in one though, so we optimized by carrying less crap around. I'd say about 99% of our usage of our 4 door sedan or small SUV requires no additional cargo capacity for our family. For the other 1% of the time, we're able to optimize by carrying less stuff. I think there has been 1 or 2 times in 13 years where cargo capacity was insufficient. For us, it was a tradeoff worth making. We totally respect those who make different choices, though. Everyone has their own preferences and needs.

eCa 6y ago

I was in Ukraine in the mid-00s. Saw a five person motorcycle. No helmets, but they had an open side-car so a bit more space. Youngest kid was in a bucket held by big sister.

j1elo 6y ago
Add to that a wooden box with a small metal bars through which I could glance a couple of chickens that were being transported by the family, in Vietnam. Amazing. The rate of children deaths or severe injuries caused by motorbike accidents must have been over the roof in these countries.
- bobbylarrybobby 6y ago
  Must have been? Large parts of Southeast Asia still get around with the whole family on one motorbike today. Not so much in the large cities but once you get outside them, absolutely.
  - bobthepanda 6y ago
    The road deaths are also very large in those countries (though a fair amount of that is also people going high speeds on roads that would not be rated for that speed in a developed country)

safetyengineer 6y ago

Helmets work but after working in automotive safety, motorcycles are death traps. I can't emphasize this enough. They are no automobile, and are not comparable.

nethunters 6y ago
What other precautionary methods could help reduce mortality rates of motorcycles?
- grumple 6y ago
  Build a car around them?
  - nmridul 6y ago
    In India TATA tried that. Built $2000 car (tata nano). Target audience were the bike going families. First , the motor bikes are cheap. So you need car matching that cost and you end up compromising a lot. https://thewire.in/business/tata-nano-why-did-the-people-not-want-the-peoples-car https://thewire.in/business/tata-nano-why-did-the-people-not...
- SulfurHexaFluri 6y ago
  Keeping your speed under 40km/h would do a lot. And removing cars from streets.
  - PopeDotNinja 6y ago
    Yeah, the average speed of traffic in Pakistan, at least in the areas I visited, was much lower that I'd expect to see in the USA.
    - SulfurHexaFluri 6y ago
      When you look at the curve of chance of death vs speed, it very very rapidly rises. You have very little risk of serious injury at 40km/h and almost certain death at 60km/h

erichocean 6y ago

I saw the same thing in India.

sdenton4 6y ago

I once saw a motorbike with two people and a cow in western Kenya. It wasn't a /big/ cow, but still.

CinchWrench 6y ago
I mostly go to /fit/ for lifting advice. I'll have to check out /big/ because i really just want to get cow-huge in 2021.
- boffinism 6y ago
  Look chums, I know, I get it. Sure. HN is a place for blah blah blah. But did we have to downvote this comment? I can't believe we're 'preserving' the quality of HN by downvoting gems like this.
  - edanm 6y ago
    In general, HN tries to be a place where only informative comments are prized, specifically excluding jokes. There are lots of funny jokes around here (and I don't usually downvote them myself), but the fear is that HN will turn into Reddit, where every post has dozens of joke comments attached. That's fun! I love Reddit. But it's not what HN tries to be.

BurningFrog 6y ago

Saw much of that in Hyderabad 2008. It's one way the lethality of poverty is visible.

fatnoah 6y ago

>> the vast majority of cars today simply don't work for a family of five My wife and I had the minivan discussion. They are amazingly practical when you need to carry vast amounts of crap. Neither of us was particularly interested in driving around in one though, so we optimized by carrying less crap around. I'd say about 99% of our usage of our 4 door sedan or small SUV requires no additional cargo capacity for our family. For the other 1% of the time, we're able to optimize by carrying less stuff. I think there has been 1 or 2 times in 13 years where cargo capacity was insufficient. For us, it was a tradeoff worth making. We totally respect those who make different choices, though. Everyone has their own preferences and needs.