The article shows a deaths-per-mile driven figure rather early in the article: "For every billion miles Americans drive, roughly 11 people are killed. If Americ

The article shows a deaths-per-mile driven figure rather early in the article: "For every billion miles Americans drive, roughly 11 people are killed. If American roads were as safe per-mile-driven as Ireland’s, the number of lives saved each year would be equivalent to preventing all the murders in the country." The article looks at a variety of statistics for examining international comparisons of road safety: "And in some ways things have been getting worse. For example, between 2009 and 2013 pedestrian deaths jumped by 15% as the economy recovered. In Britain, over the same period, the number fell by a fifth." On my part, I would much rather drive in the United States (as I have to, in a culture so bound to the automobile) than in Taiwan, the only other country I've lived in for a long time. I had a driver license the first time I lived in Taiwan (1982 through 1985), but I never drove there. The second time I lived there (1998 through 2001), I didn't even bother getting a driver license. It was a luxury when the Taipei Mass Rapid Transit system extended a subway line out to where I lived in the suburban city of Panchiao during my last year there. I much prefer public transportation commutes to driving commutes when I can get them. (Where I live here in the United States I necessarily have to commute by car to work, even though we chose our neighborhood for its convenient one-mile walking distance from much of our shopping and our visits to the county library branch.) My oldest son was acculturated to public transportation while we were living in Taiwan the second time and now happily lives in New York City without a driver license.