4 ms·

One of the largest outliers is vehicular accidents. Americans drive from an early age and drive a lot of miles. There are a bunch of historical and cultural rea

One of the largest outliers is vehicular accidents. Americans drive from an early age and drive a lot of miles. There are a bunch of historical and cultural reasons for this mostly related to agriculture, but you could get permits at age 14 and I seem to recall people driving as young as 12 in restricted agricultural contexts when I was growing up. Most start at 15-16. They also tend to do stupid things in cars when young (because young). Multiple people I knew as a child living in agricultural country died very young in vehicular accidents. I don’t know how much of this is relevant in 2023. I suspect driving is more restricted than when I was a child. The other major factor is the crime gang warfare that tends to kill a lot of young men. Most Americans will never intersect this subset of the population but it is a major source of skew in longevity statistics. For better or worse, if you survive into your mid-30s, Americans have a long life expectancy. There are significant sub-populations for who those early years are significant filters.

defrost 3y ago
> One of the largest outliers is vehicular accidents. Americans drive from an early age and drive a lot of miles. Australia is kind of big and kind of sparse (check map) and has cars; I live in a state 3x larger than Texas and drove 40 km to high school 5 days a week (and back again in the afternoon), and travelled > 1,000 km to reach the nearest university. It's true that USofA citizens have more fatalities per driver mile which does prompt a 'why?' - poor signage, no seatbelts, chronic attention deficit ?? Indigenous Australians haver lower life expectancy and higher fatalities at younger ages.
- timeon 3y ago
  I think in US you do not need to attend driving school in order to get license. Is it same for Australia?
  - defrost 3y ago
    Yes. Australia requires you to take a driving test - a "written" largely multi choice test to demonstrate understanding of road rules, success there gives you [L] learner plates that allow you to drive under supervision and practice. You then have to pass a practical driving test to gain [P] probationary plates for unassisted driving with some restrictions - after a year or so you're a full driver. No driving school is required - but it can help if you don't have access to a cool calm collected experienced driver who can walk you the skills test - reversing, parallel park, correct signalling, emergency stop, etc.
  - dgfitz 3y ago
    Depends on the state.
- jandrewrogers 3y ago
  It is a good question, I don’t have answers without digging in further. It isn’t signage or seatbelts. I don’t want to project when I was young on the situation today. Things were extremely “adventurous” when I was growing up, it is a wonder any of us survived (and some didn’t). With all the helicopter parenting now, at least in the middle to upper-middle class, you might expect that to be reduced but I have no idea. The rate of fatal injuries are definitely still an anomalous thing for young people in the US.
  - Handler9544 3y ago
    Well Texas has more people traveling on roads like Farm to Market roads which very frequently two lanes, no median or other barrier separating two cars traveling in opposing directions, each at 70-80mph. There are often large pickup trucks on these roads too, which doesn't help at all. Australia is 11 times bigger than Texas yet has 86% of the population. Assuming he's in Victoria, which is the state that most closely matches 3x the size of Texas, there would be 2 million people in an area the size of Texas. From what I can see, the drunk driving rate is similar; There's a lot more for drunk people to hit in Texas. Most of their speed limits on the highway are, according to Wikipedia, between 50-70mph.In Texas, 75mph is common between major cities, and even on those aforementioned farm-to-market roads which are everywhere. 80 is posted in 10 counties in west Texas, and we've got an 85mph signed road southeast of Austin. I got passed by a cop going about 100. I was going about 100, to be clear.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]

defrost 3y ago

> One of the largest outliers is vehicular accidents. Americans drive from an early age and drive a lot of miles. Australia is kind of big and kind of sparse (check map) and has cars; I live in a state 3x larger than Texas and drove 40 km to high school 5 days a week (and back again in the afternoon), and travelled > 1,000 km to reach the nearest university. It's true that USofA citizens have more fatalities per driver mile which does prompt a 'why?' - poor signage, no seatbelts, chronic attention deficit ?? Indigenous Australians haver lower life expectancy and higher fatalities at younger ages.

timeon 3y ago
I think in US you do not need to attend driving school in order to get license. Is it same for Australia?
- defrost 3y ago
  Yes. Australia requires you to take a driving test - a "written" largely multi choice test to demonstrate understanding of road rules, success there gives you [L] learner plates that allow you to drive under supervision and practice. You then have to pass a practical driving test to gain [P] probationary plates for unassisted driving with some restrictions - after a year or so you're a full driver. No driving school is required - but it can help if you don't have access to a cool calm collected experienced driver who can walk you the skills test - reversing, parallel park, correct signalling, emergency stop, etc.
- dgfitz 3y ago
  Depends on the state.
jandrewrogers 3y ago
It is a good question, I don’t have answers without digging in further. It isn’t signage or seatbelts. I don’t want to project when I was young on the situation today. Things were extremely “adventurous” when I was growing up, it is a wonder any of us survived (and some didn’t). With all the helicopter parenting now, at least in the middle to upper-middle class, you might expect that to be reduced but I have no idea. The rate of fatal injuries are definitely still an anomalous thing for young people in the US.
- Handler9544 3y ago
  Well Texas has more people traveling on roads like Farm to Market roads which very frequently two lanes, no median or other barrier separating two cars traveling in opposing directions, each at 70-80mph. There are often large pickup trucks on these roads too, which doesn't help at all. Australia is 11 times bigger than Texas yet has 86% of the population. Assuming he's in Victoria, which is the state that most closely matches 3x the size of Texas, there would be 2 million people in an area the size of Texas. From what I can see, the drunk driving rate is similar; There's a lot more for drunk people to hit in Texas. Most of their speed limits on the highway are, according to Wikipedia, between 50-70mph.In Texas, 75mph is common between major cities, and even on those aforementioned farm-to-market roads which are everywhere. 80 is posted in 10 counties in west Texas, and we've got an 85mph signed road southeast of Austin. I got passed by a cop going about 100. I was going about 100, to be clear.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]