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You know, progress on road safety in the US isn't as quick as we'd like, but it's been tremendous. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:USA_annual_VMT_vs_death

by mlyle 3y ago

You know, progress on road safety in the US isn't as quick as we'd like, but it's been tremendous. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:USA_annual_VMT_vs_deaths_per_VMT.png https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:USA_annual_VMT_vs_death... The death rate per mile has been roughly halving each generation.

jmward01 3y ago
Yeah! I am -very- glad to see this trend. I am guilty of posting deaths per year when other normalized stats are far better. Thanks for pointing that out.
browningstreet 3y ago
But the US traffic death rate is more than double the average rate in other industrialized countries. There’s probably a point at which we can’t improve these rates given the cars we drive and the way we design streets and the lack of alternatives to driving, generally.
- mlyle 3y ago
  > But the US traffic death rate is more than double the average rate in other industrialized countries. On a population, not a per-mile basis (though it is a bit higher than the average for industrialized countries, it ain't double). Here, the US being big works against us, as does being unnecessarily spread out and driving a lot more "just because".
  - browningstreet 3y ago
    Yeah but 81% of Americans live in urban areas.
    - mlyle 3y ago
      Yes, but even US urban areas tend to be larger, unnecessarily spread out, and involve more driving (all mentioned above).
panick21_ 3y ago
There are a number of issues with that stat. It contains a huge ton of boring not that dangerous highway miles. Highways are a separated environment that solves most of the issue with US infrastructure planning. Second, this also doesn't take into account speed reduction because of concession. So basically, the infrastructure is terrible designed but because there is just to many cars, that often masks the potential issues. Third, this also doesn't take into account the effect, that this was partly achieved by simply removing pedestrians. The US has way less walking. If you talk a more narrow look situation where there is mixed use of space, the US comes of much worse. Also this ends before the pandemic, the pandemic partly showed what US infrastructure leads to when your remove some of the congestion. This stat also doesn't show things like property damage, its funny how much car driving into buildings is a thing in US media.

by mlyle 3y ago

jmward01 3y ago

Yeah! I am -very- glad to see this trend. I am guilty of posting deaths per year when other normalized stats are far better. Thanks for pointing that out.

browningstreet 3y ago

But the US traffic death rate is more than double the average rate in other industrialized countries. There’s probably a point at which we can’t improve these rates given the cars we drive and the way we design streets and the lack of alternatives to driving, generally.

mlyle 3y ago
> But the US traffic death rate is more than double the average rate in other industrialized countries. On a population, not a per-mile basis (though it is a bit higher than the average for industrialized countries, it ain't double). Here, the US being big works against us, as does being unnecessarily spread out and driving a lot more "just because".
- browningstreet 3y ago
  Yeah but 81% of Americans live in urban areas.
  - mlyle 3y ago
    Yes, but even US urban areas tend to be larger, unnecessarily spread out, and involve more driving (all mentioned above).

panick21_ 3y ago

There are a number of issues with that stat. It contains a huge ton of boring not that dangerous highway miles. Highways are a separated environment that solves most of the issue with US infrastructure planning. Second, this also doesn't take into account speed reduction because of concession. So basically, the infrastructure is terrible designed but because there is just to many cars, that often masks the potential issues. Third, this also doesn't take into account the effect, that this was partly achieved by simply removing pedestrians. The US has way less walking. If you talk a more narrow look situation where there is mixed use of space, the US comes of much worse. Also this ends before the pandemic, the pandemic partly showed what US infrastructure leads to when your remove some of the congestion. This stat also doesn't show things like property damage, its funny how much car driving into buildings is a thing in US media.