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>It's interesting to note that we're expected to lose our minds over the first human death with New Technology Y, when Old Technology X is typically killing hum

by krisgee 12y ago

>It's interesting to note that we're expected to lose our minds over the first human death with New Technology Y, when Old Technology X is typically killing humans all the time. Exactly, call me when they're killing 1.2 million people a year[1]. The number of people killed by automobiles is completely fucking insane and the only reason we're cool with it is it mostly doesn't happen to someone a large number of people care about and if it does we can hum, haw and then lay blame on someone (who is probably dead). 1 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-related_death_rate http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-re...

Alupis 12y ago
> The number of people killed by automobiles is completely fucking insane We're largely talking about only the US market here -- in which only (and I say that word relatively) 32,000 people died in any sort of automobile related accident last year (including siting in their driveway idling and somehow died). To put this in perspective, the common Flu (a totally vaccinatable, preventable, and treatable illness) killed more than 52,000 people in the US last year alone. In reality, automobiles in the US are the safest they have ever been since 1949, and automobile related deaths have dropped more than 26% since 2005 alone. According to the CDC, automobile related deaths are not even in the top 10 leading causes of death in the US. Last year, heart disease was responsible for 596,577 US deaths last year alone. Stroke claimed 128,932 US lives. Diabetes took 73,831 american lives. Suicide robbed 39,518 people their life last year -- in excess of 7,000 more than died by automobile related accidents. In 2009, approximately a grand total of 2,436,652 died in the US of all causes (including natural causes). Of that number, automobile related deaths only accounts for 1%. Of the entire US population, we're talking about 0.0096%... According to the CDC, in 2012, 10,322 people (or 31%) of all automobile related deaths were alcohol-related deaths. Another 18% of automobile related deaths are attributed to drugs other than alcohol in the same year. That accounts for just about 50% of all vehicle related deaths, leaving the true automobile related deaths due to accident at a shockingly low number (relatively) of about 15,000 people per year. All of this is to say, relatively speaking, automobile related deaths are not a significant concern anymore. It does not make logical nor financial sense to do anything significant in this sector while ignoring or not increasing efforts in these other much more significant areas. So, to counter your original assertion -- no, it's not "completely fucking insane"... the amount of people dying from the common Flu is. Sources: [1] http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/leading-causes-of-death.htm http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/leading-causes-of-death.htm [2] http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/01/09/guns-traffic-deaths-rates/1784595/ http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/01/09/guns-tr... [3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_motor_vehicle_deaths_in_U.S._by_year http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_motor_vehicle_deaths_in... [4] http://www.businessinsider.com/top-causes-of-death-united-states-2011-11 http://www.businessinsider.com/top-causes-of-death-united-st... [5] http://www.iihs.org/iihs/topics/t/general-statistics/fatalityfacts/state-by-state-overview http://www.iihs.org/iihs/topics/t/general-statistics/fatalit... [6] http://www.cdc.gov/Motorvehiclesafety/impaired_driving/impaired-drv_factsheet.html http://www.cdc.gov/Motorvehiclesafety/impaired_driving/impai...
visakanv 12y ago
I'm reminded of this single story on Twitter where a woman unknowingly livetweeted her husband's death in a road accident- and then later found out it was him. I went to find her Twitter account, and saw that she basically spent everyday comforting other people who lost loved ones to road accidents... and it seemed like this was happening every day. Crazy, terrible shit.
visakanv 12y ago
I'm reminded of this single story on Twitter where a woman unknowingly livetweeted her husband's death in a road accident- and then later found out it was him. I went to find her Twitter account, and saw that she basically spent everyday comforting other people who lost loved ones to road accidents... and it seemed like this was happening every day. Crazy, terrible shit.

by krisgee 12y ago

Alupis 12y ago

> The number of people killed by automobiles is completely fucking insane We're largely talking about only the US market here -- in which only (and I say that word relatively) 32,000 people died in any sort of automobile related accident last year (including siting in their driveway idling and somehow died). To put this in perspective, the common Flu (a totally vaccinatable, preventable, and treatable illness) killed more than 52,000 people in the US last year alone. In reality, automobiles in the US are the safest they have ever been since 1949, and automobile related deaths have dropped more than 26% since 2005 alone. According to the CDC, automobile related deaths are not even in the top 10 leading causes of death in the US. Last year, heart disease was responsible for 596,577 US deaths last year alone. Stroke claimed 128,932 US lives. Diabetes took 73,831 american lives. Suicide robbed 39,518 people their life last year -- in excess of 7,000 more than died by automobile related accidents. In 2009, approximately a grand total of 2,436,652 died in the US of all causes (including natural causes). Of that number, automobile related deaths only accounts for 1%. Of the entire US population, we're talking about 0.0096%... According to the CDC, in 2012, 10,322 people (or 31%) of all automobile related deaths were alcohol-related deaths. Another 18% of automobile related deaths are attributed to drugs other than alcohol in the same year. That accounts for just about 50% of all vehicle related deaths, leaving the true automobile related deaths due to accident at a shockingly low number (relatively) of about 15,000 people per year. All of this is to say, relatively speaking, automobile related deaths are not a significant concern anymore. It does not make logical nor financial sense to do anything significant in this sector while ignoring or not increasing efforts in these other much more significant areas. So, to counter your original assertion -- no, it's not "completely fucking insane"... the amount of people dying from the common Flu is. Sources: [1] http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/leading-causes-of-death.htm http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/leading-causes-of-death.htm [2] http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/01/09/guns-traffic-deaths-rates/1784595/ http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/01/09/guns-tr... [3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_motor_vehicle_deaths_in_U.S._by_year http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_motor_vehicle_deaths_in... [4] http://www.businessinsider.com/top-causes-of-death-united-states-2011-11 http://www.businessinsider.com/top-causes-of-death-united-st... [5] http://www.iihs.org/iihs/topics/t/general-statistics/fatalityfacts/state-by-state-overview http://www.iihs.org/iihs/topics/t/general-statistics/fatalit... [6] http://www.cdc.gov/Motorvehiclesafety/impaired_driving/impaired-drv_factsheet.html http://www.cdc.gov/Motorvehiclesafety/impaired_driving/impai...

visakanv 12y ago

I'm reminded of this single story on Twitter where a woman unknowingly livetweeted her husband's death in a road accident- and then later found out it was him. I went to find her Twitter account, and saw that she basically spent everyday comforting other people who lost loved ones to road accidents... and it seemed like this was happening every day. Crazy, terrible shit.

visakanv 12y ago