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I forget who, but somebody pointed out recently that if cars were invented today, there is no way we would ever let anybody drive one.
by listless 5y ago
I forget who, but somebody pointed out recently that if cars were invented today, there is no way we would ever let anybody drive one.
- notriddle 5y agoConsidering all the other reasons cars are bad (energy and space wasted on them), it would’ve been better if they hadn’t been.
- BurningFrog 5y agoTrue for a lot of inventions that were a huge improvements forhumanity.
- markdown 5y agoIf alcohol were invented today, there is no way we'd let anyone market and sell it.
- pyuser583 5y agoWhy aren’t cars much safer than horses? My car doesn’t just decide to run a red light because it’s scared.
- mostlystatic 5y agoI found your question interesting and found this article: https://www.jstor.org/stable/27739679 https://www.jstor.org/stable/27739679 > The advent of automobile use in the early 20th century brought about a measurable rise in total numbers of highway deaths and injuries. However, the automobile's toll on human life and limb was probably not extravagantly greater than the toll exacted by the combination of steam- and horse-driven travel methods it displaced From skimming the article, it seems like motor vehicle fatalities in NYC in the 1990s were similar to total traffic fatalities in the early 1900s, even though the population almost doubled. I'm assuming motor vehicle fatalities includes pedestrians hit by motor vehicles. There could still be additional deaths today from things like streetcars, horses, or ox carts, but I feel like those would be low.