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There are so many things we could do in the US to reduce the tens of thousands of road deaths every year. The odd thing is, we seem to be choosing to do none of

There are so many things we could do in the US to reduce the tens of thousands of road deaths every year. The odd thing is, we seem to be choosing to do none of them. I think the problem is that a meaningful number of assholes, I mean Americans, truly think they have a right to zip down freeways at 100mph, swerving form one lane to the next with no blinker. We see it every day. As far as I'm concerned, driving like that is akin to a violent crime and should come with a prison sentence.

avalys 2y ago
That’s already illegal. The problem is enforcement. Ever since the pandemic and the “defund the police” nonsense I’ve hardly seen the highway patrol on the roads at all, much less pulling anyone over.
- 0xbadcafebee 2y ago
  You don't need highway patrol at all for enforcement, we have cameras and radar. Just send them a ticket in the mail and impound their car after that (the same as Austria and Switzerland). We don't enforce it because we don't want to.
- infecto 2y ago
  This feels so true. I don't see enforcement across any of the portions of the US I travel. I rarely if ever see cars pulled over. It is a contrast to what I felt growing up.
- thot_experiment 2y ago
  You may be surprised to learn that we did not in fact defund the police. :thonking_face_emoji:
  - hobotime 2y ago
    Seattle sure did. And it sucks. We lost 70% of the officers to other jurisdictions that don't hate them.
- InitialLastName 2y ago
  Which states defunded their police departments?
  - hobotime 2y ago
    Don't matter, as police officers migrate to places that don't hate them. The Democrat stronghold cities have less police now than three years ago.
    - locopati 2y ago
      there's a difference between hating and wanting to rein in out of control criminal organizations
- NotSammyHagar 2y ago
  Actually defunding the police turned out to be something that didn't happen, at least from the democrats (who are still blamed for it). The main defunding was from the republican leadership in the house who insisted on reducing the budget or multiple federal law enforcement agencies, such as FBI and ATF. The republicans defunded the police. But the effective outcome of all the sound and fury is that police enforcement seems way way down. I can't understand why they allow so many drivers to go around with expired license plates and worse (no plates, hand written plates, etc). They just don't stop them any more. There was a claim that laws about safe pursuit were a reason to not stop them, then they reversed the laws, still happening). I'm very ticked about it.
  - pandaman 2y ago
    What does the Congress have to do with police forces? What do FBI and ATF have to do with traffic enforcement? Actual police (one that enforces traffic laws) had actually been defunded and by democrats: 1. LA https://apnews.com/article/3ad962eb78e30975354f6036c6451022#:~:text=The%20Los%20Angeles%20City%20Council%20has%20voted%20to,a%20little%20more%20than%209%2C700%20by%20next%20summer https://apnews.com/article/3ad962eb78e30975354f6036c6451022#.... 2. NYC https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/01/us/new-york-budget-nypd-1-billion-cut-trnd/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/01/us/new-york-budget-nypd-1-bil... 3. Austin https://www.npr.org/2021/10/24/1048790508/officials-in-austin-cut-police-budgets-last-year-then-refunded-them-this-year https://www.npr.org/2021/10/24/1048790508/officials-in-austi... 4. Seattle https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/seattle-has-been-defunding-the-police-exactly-backward/ https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/seattle-h... 5. Portland https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/protests/defunding-portland-police-city-council-budget-15-million-cuts/283-239c5e3a-cfed-4dce-8775-d2c52a9df9aa https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/protests/defunding-po... I could go on.
- janalsncm 2y ago
  You don’t need police to enforce speed laws. You just need cameras, which have the advantages of being cheaper and safer. There are two kinds of speed camera systems. One uses two cameras in short succession to measure instantaneous speed. You can dodge this by slowing down right before it. The second uses the same concept but puts the cameras a mile or so apart to measure duration over that distance. This is harder to game.
  - bluefirebrand 2y ago
    Speed laws aren't the thing we need to enforce. Reckless driving is You need traffic police to enforce reckless driving kaws
infotainment 2y ago
Realistically, most freeways are built for 100mph, and it’s weird the US doesn’t just allow that like Germany does. What the US really needs (also like Germany), is to make it much more difficult to get a license, and make it much easier to lose one for bad driving. Unfortunately that’s a political nonstarter since decades of poor zoning policy have resulted in nearly everything requiring a car to get to.
- dzhiurgis 2y ago
  > make it much more difficult to get a license While I agree, getting a licence in most of places in Europe is pretty difficult, but driving culture is nowhere close to German.
sologoub 2y ago
Speed is not the issue. Weaving in and out, tailgating and other similar behaviors are. Just came back from Germany and drove on the no speed limit part of the autobahn. It was orderly and I felt perfectly safe with family going equivalent of 120mph. No one cutting you off, unless passing, no sitting in left lane. Getting passed at that speed like you are standing still takes a bit getting used to, but again, it’s very predictable. Did not witness any accidents in 2 weeks of driving. It can be done, just need proper rules, penalties for breaking them that are actually enforced and of course good roads (didn’t see any pot holes either).
- consp 2y ago
  Sounds like you've driven in the only part of Germany where people behave. My experience is it's as bad as everywhere else in neighboring countries with the tiny difference that the lanes are a bit wider than in most places. I usually don't drive in the left lanes and I still get the impression people want to check what I'm transporting in the back all the time.
- thot_experiment 2y ago
  Not that I'm a fan of cars in general, but I 100% agree with everything you've said here, there's no good reason for the absurdly low speed limits on major freeways, especially since the average speed of traffic is often 20mph over, making it actively unsafe to do the speed limit. Though I will say some of the potholes we've got on 880 are unsafe at any speed.
  - shrimp_emoji 2y ago
    > Not that I'm a fan of cars in general I, too, prefer socialist trains over the individuated, elitist inefficiency of cars. https://youtu.be/9-Jy-yBboCM https://youtu.be/9-Jy-yBboCM
  - sologoub 2y ago
    Unless pot holes are fixed, increasing speed limits will just make them more dangerous.
- 2y ago
soperj 2y ago
Is it really the freeway that's the problem? They go fast down residential streets, or driving while texting, and eating. I've literally seen someone reading a book while driving before.
gumby 2y ago
> The odd thing is, we seem to be choosing to do none of them. 9/11 killed a month's worth of road fatalities, and in response we invaded two countries. I guess it's understandable: if we invaded two random countries every month we'd soon run out of countries.
- M95D 2y ago
  You can always retreat and then invade again! /s
dzhiurgis 2y ago
Smart roads and car speed limits are obvious solution and is being worked towards in Europe. Despite vivid imagination, there is 0 reasons for you go 10-20% over speed limit, ever. Why should you endanger everyone when you are in emergency? Why overtake someone if they are driving within 10% of speed limit? If you want experience speed - get trained and go to a racetrack. There's no reason why your car (and road agency) shouldn't exactly know speed limit and state of every single road. We live in a global realtime SAR imaging sat coverage and global sat internet coverage. We can track every single car in the world and you say we can't make a realtime database of speed limits? Get outta here, decel.
- Fire-Dragon-DoL 2y ago
  I'm not sure about there, but here in Vancouver, I try to drive as much as possible at the posted speed limit, because I have family and I want them to be alive (and they need me to be alive). At least 80% of the cars pass me constantly and I constantly see drivers pissed off at me driving slowly. I have no solution, I feel unsafe going slower but I also don't want to go faster, it stresses me (tickets, losing driving license etc.), but I also don't want to endanger anybody. If you have suggestions, great. I'll keep going at the posted speed limit.

avalys 2y ago

That’s already illegal. The problem is enforcement. Ever since the pandemic and the “defund the police” nonsense I’ve hardly seen the highway patrol on the roads at all, much less pulling anyone over.

0xbadcafebee 2y ago
You don't need highway patrol at all for enforcement, we have cameras and radar. Just send them a ticket in the mail and impound their car after that (the same as Austria and Switzerland). We don't enforce it because we don't want to.
infecto 2y ago
This feels so true. I don't see enforcement across any of the portions of the US I travel. I rarely if ever see cars pulled over. It is a contrast to what I felt growing up.
thot_experiment 2y ago
You may be surprised to learn that we did not in fact defund the police. :thonking_face_emoji:
- hobotime 2y ago
  Seattle sure did. And it sucks. We lost 70% of the officers to other jurisdictions that don't hate them.
InitialLastName 2y ago
Which states defunded their police departments?
- hobotime 2y ago
  Don't matter, as police officers migrate to places that don't hate them. The Democrat stronghold cities have less police now than three years ago.
  - locopati 2y ago
    there's a difference between hating and wanting to rein in out of control criminal organizations
NotSammyHagar 2y ago
Actually defunding the police turned out to be something that didn't happen, at least from the democrats (who are still blamed for it). The main defunding was from the republican leadership in the house who insisted on reducing the budget or multiple federal law enforcement agencies, such as FBI and ATF. The republicans defunded the police. But the effective outcome of all the sound and fury is that police enforcement seems way way down. I can't understand why they allow so many drivers to go around with expired license plates and worse (no plates, hand written plates, etc). They just don't stop them any more. There was a claim that laws about safe pursuit were a reason to not stop them, then they reversed the laws, still happening). I'm very ticked about it.
- pandaman 2y ago
  What does the Congress have to do with police forces? What do FBI and ATF have to do with traffic enforcement? Actual police (one that enforces traffic laws) had actually been defunded and by democrats: 1. LA https://apnews.com/article/3ad962eb78e30975354f6036c6451022#:~:text=The%20Los%20Angeles%20City%20Council%20has%20voted%20to,a%20little%20more%20than%209%2C700%20by%20next%20summer https://apnews.com/article/3ad962eb78e30975354f6036c6451022#.... 2. NYC https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/01/us/new-york-budget-nypd-1-billion-cut-trnd/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/01/us/new-york-budget-nypd-1-bil... 3. Austin https://www.npr.org/2021/10/24/1048790508/officials-in-austin-cut-police-budgets-last-year-then-refunded-them-this-year https://www.npr.org/2021/10/24/1048790508/officials-in-austi... 4. Seattle https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/seattle-has-been-defunding-the-police-exactly-backward/ https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/seattle-h... 5. Portland https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/protests/defunding-portland-police-city-council-budget-15-million-cuts/283-239c5e3a-cfed-4dce-8775-d2c52a9df9aa https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/protests/defunding-po... I could go on.
janalsncm 2y ago
You don’t need police to enforce speed laws. You just need cameras, which have the advantages of being cheaper and safer. There are two kinds of speed camera systems. One uses two cameras in short succession to measure instantaneous speed. You can dodge this by slowing down right before it. The second uses the same concept but puts the cameras a mile or so apart to measure duration over that distance. This is harder to game.
- bluefirebrand 2y ago
  Speed laws aren't the thing we need to enforce. Reckless driving is You need traffic police to enforce reckless driving kaws

infotainment 2y ago

Realistically, most freeways are built for 100mph, and it’s weird the US doesn’t just allow that like Germany does. What the US really needs (also like Germany), is to make it much more difficult to get a license, and make it much easier to lose one for bad driving. Unfortunately that’s a political nonstarter since decades of poor zoning policy have resulted in nearly everything requiring a car to get to.

dzhiurgis 2y ago
> make it much more difficult to get a license While I agree, getting a licence in most of places in Europe is pretty difficult, but driving culture is nowhere close to German.

sologoub 2y ago

Speed is not the issue. Weaving in and out, tailgating and other similar behaviors are. Just came back from Germany and drove on the no speed limit part of the autobahn. It was orderly and I felt perfectly safe with family going equivalent of 120mph. No one cutting you off, unless passing, no sitting in left lane. Getting passed at that speed like you are standing still takes a bit getting used to, but again, it’s very predictable. Did not witness any accidents in 2 weeks of driving. It can be done, just need proper rules, penalties for breaking them that are actually enforced and of course good roads (didn’t see any pot holes either).

consp 2y ago
Sounds like you've driven in the only part of Germany where people behave. My experience is it's as bad as everywhere else in neighboring countries with the tiny difference that the lanes are a bit wider than in most places. I usually don't drive in the left lanes and I still get the impression people want to check what I'm transporting in the back all the time.
thot_experiment 2y ago
Not that I'm a fan of cars in general, but I 100% agree with everything you've said here, there's no good reason for the absurdly low speed limits on major freeways, especially since the average speed of traffic is often 20mph over, making it actively unsafe to do the speed limit. Though I will say some of the potholes we've got on 880 are unsafe at any speed.
- shrimp_emoji 2y ago
  > Not that I'm a fan of cars in general I, too, prefer socialist trains over the individuated, elitist inefficiency of cars. https://youtu.be/9-Jy-yBboCM https://youtu.be/9-Jy-yBboCM
- sologoub 2y ago
  Unless pot holes are fixed, increasing speed limits will just make them more dangerous.
2y ago

soperj 2y ago

Is it really the freeway that's the problem? They go fast down residential streets, or driving while texting, and eating. I've literally seen someone reading a book while driving before.

gumby 2y ago

> The odd thing is, we seem to be choosing to do none of them. 9/11 killed a month's worth of road fatalities, and in response we invaded two countries. I guess it's understandable: if we invaded two random countries every month we'd soon run out of countries.

M95D 2y ago
You can always retreat and then invade again! /s

dzhiurgis 2y ago

Smart roads and car speed limits are obvious solution and is being worked towards in Europe. Despite vivid imagination, there is 0 reasons for you go 10-20% over speed limit, ever. Why should you endanger everyone when you are in emergency? Why overtake someone if they are driving within 10% of speed limit? If you want experience speed - get trained and go to a racetrack. There's no reason why your car (and road agency) shouldn't exactly know speed limit and state of every single road. We live in a global realtime SAR imaging sat coverage and global sat internet coverage. We can track every single car in the world and you say we can't make a realtime database of speed limits? Get outta here, decel.

Fire-Dragon-DoL 2y ago
I'm not sure about there, but here in Vancouver, I try to drive as much as possible at the posted speed limit, because I have family and I want them to be alive (and they need me to be alive). At least 80% of the cars pass me constantly and I constantly see drivers pissed off at me driving slowly. I have no solution, I feel unsafe going slower but I also don't want to go faster, it stresses me (tickets, losing driving license etc.), but I also don't want to endanger anybody. If you have suggestions, great. I'll keep going at the posted speed limit.