3 ms·

You are correct that they are powerful, but they wield that power rarely. Imagine if Superman was real. There he is standing on a street corner. Vastly powerfu

You are correct that they are powerful, but they wield that power rarely. Imagine if Superman was real. There he is standing on a street corner. Vastly powerful. Invincible to everything except kryptonite. Cape flowing majestically. Someone robs a bank right there across the street. He sees it. He hears it. And he stands there and watches, doing nothing. That's the NHSTA.

rootusrootus 4y ago
> You are correct that they are powerful, but they wield that power rarely. Define rarely? They issued over a thousand recalls in 2021.
- epistasis 4y ago
  How many of the deaths in the US result in a recall? How many recalls would it take to stop the deaths? I would argue that every single car death is proof of a defect worthy of recalling that car, but Im not sure if the recall could replace the car with a piece of equipment that would have prevented the death.
  - afiori 4y ago
    To be fair most deaths are the fault the the street design that prioritize driver comfort over everything else
    - epistasis 4y ago
      Exactly. We focus on the wrong thing, the design of the car, instead of actual effective policy: allow people to get around without being exposed to car traffic. And when there is car traffic, greatly reducing the possibility for interaction. However, this is quite difficult when nearly all planning in the US puts its top priority as maximum traffic capacity and speed. If there's a dangerous intersection that needs to be fixed, but that fix reduces car speeds, traffic engineers will demand that they need to see a certain amount of death or injury before they will act. They won't phrase it that way, buts it's equivalent. As long as the intersection fits the numbers that are in a book somewhere it's A-OK until the book has been proven wrong, which it is again and again, as shown in our traffic deaths.

3 ms·

You are correct that they are powerful, but they wield that power rarely. Imagine if Superman was real. There he is standing on a street corner. Vastly powerfu

by Apreche 4y ago

rootusrootus 4y ago
> You are correct that they are powerful, but they wield that power rarely. Define rarely? They issued over a thousand recalls in 2021.
- epistasis 4y ago
  How many of the deaths in the US result in a recall? How many recalls would it take to stop the deaths? I would argue that every single car death is proof of a defect worthy of recalling that car, but Im not sure if the recall could replace the car with a piece of equipment that would have prevented the death.
  - afiori 4y ago
    To be fair most deaths are the fault the the street design that prioritize driver comfort over everything else
    - epistasis 4y ago
      Exactly. We focus on the wrong thing, the design of the car, instead of actual effective policy: allow people to get around without being exposed to car traffic. And when there is car traffic, greatly reducing the possibility for interaction. However, this is quite difficult when nearly all planning in the US puts its top priority as maximum traffic capacity and speed. If there's a dangerous intersection that needs to be fixed, but that fix reduces car speeds, traffic engineers will demand that they need to see a certain amount of death or injury before they will act. They won't phrase it that way, buts it's equivalent. As long as the intersection fits the numbers that are in a book somewhere it's A-OK until the book has been proven wrong, which it is again and again, as shown in our traffic deaths.