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I find it crazy that Americans allow turn signals to use the same red lights as brakes considering how many different safety rules they have. Like how all cars
by Hamuko 5y ago
I find it crazy that Americans allow turn signals to use the same red lights as brakes considering how many different safety rules they have. Like how all cars have to have amber reflectors on the front bumpers, which almost all European cars have to add almost as an afterthought [1], or how the door lock pins can't be flush with the door (at least I assume this is regulation since I never see non-flush door lock pins in European cars). And now the most recent one is the mandatory backup cameras, and I don't think I know any other country in the world where those are mandated by law.
[1] https://live.staticflickr.com/4623/39623465442_7519e01f0b_o.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/4623/39623465442_7519e01f0b_o....
- jdavis703 5y agoAmerica has the highest per capita traffic deaths among OECD countries. Our traffic / vehicle regulations aren’t that strong and are rarely enforced on after-market modifications. This is getting downvotes, but it’s literally legal to drive a jacked up, high center of gravity pickup trucks in the US. Meanwhile in Europe such a modification would be illegal because it reduces front-facing visibility.
- kibwen 5y agoPer miles driven the US has an average number of traffic deaths. The problem is that the country's infrastructure is designed so poorly that the number of miles driven per capita is laughably absurd.
- kashura 5y agoMaybe the root cause is the laughably easy barrier of entry to have a license to drive a death missile? It's a multi faceted issue of course, but to me, getting better educated drivers on the road is by far the easiest problem to solve around driving.
- jdavis703 5y agoI would say almost everyone knows not to text and drive, or run red lights or to speed. Yet these are all frequent occurrences. Even proposals to add speed or red light cameras (with strict rules to prevent municipal abuse) face heavy opposition. I don’t think education alone will fix traffic safety.
- oblio 5y agoSpeed cameras I can (kind of) understand, but what possible reasonable explanation could they have for blocking red light camera installation?
- blendergeek 5y agoMany people oppose automated law enforcement in (almost) all forms.
- oblio 5y agoWhy, for this specific case?
- jdavis703 5y agoTaking devil’s advocate here, but people claim that automated enforcement has equity concerns, privacy concerns and immigration concerns. Again, these aren’t my arguments, but: There’s concern that automated enforcement is a regressive punishment that unduly burdens low-income motorists. There’s a belief that these cameras will be concentrated in low-income or minority neighborhoods. The privacy concerns are fairly obvious, people are concerned the government is building a database of vehicle locations. And the immigration concerns are that information could be fed back to ICE to detain undocumented immigrants. However if you read the enabling legislation, a lot of these concerns are addressed through data retention, data sharing and safety standards (i.e. tickets can only be issued at 9 MPH over the limit and there must be a warning sign.) I also think an unspoken part of the opposition is some people feel they can talk a cop out of writing a ticket, but they can’t argue with a machine.
- userbinator 5y agoIt's "very American" to value personal freedom above all else. The EU culture is more collectivist.
- SilverRed 5y agoAmerican's views of freedoms are a little wonky. In most of the world you can go about life with many transport options. You could drive, you could walk, you could ride a bike. While in the US the only realistic option is to drive. In a personal freedoms sense, I would think that Europeans have more personal freedom since they have more realistic options to pick from.