Poll: Auto Accident Fatalities and Injuries

[Josh]

This topic isn’t a big, or even medium sized, concern of mine. Because everything in life carries risks. And when something - automobile travel - has massive upsides, and quite low risks, that is something worth doing and leave the risk to God. This isn’t like rock or mountain climbing, where the upside is pointless, and the downside is needless death.

But what if a nation could reduce the number of deaths and permanent injuries by 50%. Wouldn't that be worth it? That is 22,000 fewer deaths per year and 1 million less permanent injuries per year in the USA.
As my uncle once said, "If a family member you loved was killed or permanently injured in an auto accident, it might make us think differently about this topic."

There are a number of developed countries who have less than half the number of deaths and permanent injuries that the US has.
https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/the ... world.html

Of particular note is auto accidents are the leading cause of deaths of young people. Yet parents are eager to get kids driving at age 16 and make sure to buy them a car and a smartphone.

[Bootstrap]

In the United States, the road traffic death rate stood at 10.6 highway deaths per 100,000 people annually while Canada has a traffic death rate of 6.0 per 100,000 people. While much worse than European norms, these did not even approach those of the world’s highest rates, where annual traffic deaths in excess of 30 occurrences per 100,000 people are registered. Thailand has the highest death rate at 36.2, with Malawi following closely behind with 35.0 deaths per 100,000 people. Many of the victims are often cyclists or pedestrians, who are using the same highways and byways as motor vehicles are.

Reduce cyclists and pedestrians. Drive more cars.

But the countries that are doing better than us have lots more cyclists and pedestrians than we do. So that doesn't seem to be the answer ...

Really???? It looks like you noticed the insignificant ones and skimmed over the significant ones that are comparable to the US.
3 Sweden 2.8
5 United Kingdom 2.9
7 Switzerland 3.3
8 Netherlands 3.4
9 Denmark 3.5
11 Israel 3.6
13 Spain 3.7
14 Norway 3.8
15 Ireland 4.1
16 Germany 4.3
18 Japan 4.7
19 Finland 4.8
21 France 5.1

[Bootstrap]

Number one and number two causes in this list: (1) distracted driving, (2) speeding.

1. Distracted Driving

The number one cause of car accidents is not a criminal that drove drunk, sped or ran a red light. Distracted drivers are the top cause of car accidents in the U.S. today. A distracted driver is a motorist that diverts his or her attention from the road, usually to talk on a cell phone, send a text message or eat food.

More on how distracted driving causes accidents


2. Speeding

You've seen them on the highway. Many drivers ignore the speed limit and drive 10, 20 and sometimes 30 mph over the limit. Speed kills, and traveling above the speed limit is an easy way to cause a car accident. The faster you drive, the slower your reaction time will be if you need to prevent an auto accident.

[Josh]

But why has it spiked up so much since 2019? It’s not like people are driving faster.

[Bootstrap]

In the United States, the road traffic death rate stood at 10.6 highway deaths per 100,000 people annually while Canada has a traffic death rate of 6.0 per 100,000 people. While much worse than European norms, these did not even approach those of the world’s highest rates, where annual traffic deaths in excess of 30 occurrences per 100,000 people are registered. Thailand has the highest death rate at 36.2, with Malawi following closely behind with 35.0 deaths per 100,000 people. Many of the victims are often cyclists or pedestrians, who are using the same highways and byways as motor vehicles are.

Reduce cyclists and pedestrians. Drive more cars.

In fact, the safest country in the world also has one of the highest rates of cycling ...

https://www.finn.com/en-US/press/the-wo ... fest_roads

Top three countries with the safest roads

1. Netherlands

Road safety score of 7.86/10:

The safest roads in the world can be found in the Netherlands, with the small nation in northern Europe achieving a score of 7.86/10. The quality of roads in the Netherlands was higher than any other nation studied, with a score of 6.4. The country also has one of the highest percentages of seatbelt wearers and the lowest traffic levels, too. The Netherlands is the country with the highest proportion of cyclists in the world, with one bike per person, As a result of the country’s famous cycling culture, there are fewer drivers on the road.

[Bootstrap]

But why has it spiked up so much since 2019? It’s not like people are driving faster.

Smartphones. Depression and anger.

And yes, driving faster.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a noticeable increase in risky driving behaviors, including speeding. Data from Arity, a driving analytics company, showed that people were driving over 100 miles per hour 20% more often than before the pandemic. Moreover, accidents, when they occurred, happened at faster speeds, about 50% faster than usual【https://www.fastcompany.com/90520678/it ... e-reckless】. This trend of increased risky driving continued into 2021, as reported by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, which found that traffic fatalities surged, with a significant increase in crashes involving impairment, speeding, red-light running, aggressiveness, and non-seatbelt use, reaching the highest level in over a decade【https://newsroom.aaa.com/2022/02/solvin ... atalities/】.

These findings suggest that while the overall number of drivers on the road decreased due to the pandemic, a subset of drivers engaged in more dangerous behaviors, contributing to an increase in traffic fatalities. Despite fewer people driving, the ones who did were taking greater risks, leading to a higher rate of serious accidents and fatalities.

[Soloist]

This is a thread to discuss Auto Accident Fatalities and Injuries.


6. What can Christians (who value life and are alarmed at the number of fatalities and injuries) do in 2024 and subsequent years to make a difference?
7. In particular, what can Christians do at a grass roots level to help reduce the two most common causes for accidents? (distracted driving and speeding)
8. Should churches who practice church discipline initiate any sort of discipline for those who participate in distracted driving and speeding?
9. Do Christians who pray and ask God to protect them while they travel, experience fewer accidents, as compared with those who don't bother to do so? (And for the record, I plan to continue this practice, regardless of the answer to this question.)
10. As Christians, there are things we can do to avoid causing accidents. Are there things we can also do to reduce our chances of being an accident victim? If so, what are some reasonable things we can do?

Top 25 Causes for Car Accidents

Motor Vehicle Fatalities by Year - Wiki

Please keep partisan comments/debates out of this thread - avoid comments that reflect negatively on either right-leaning or left leaning political persuasions or characters. Please keep this thread focused on the topic.

Wife: I have given some thought to this, at least on a personal level, because we are hearing about a lot of accidents lately. A couple weeks ago, a young person was driving my children home and they didn’t see a vehicle when they were turning and thankfully that vehicle had slowed down, because otherwise, I might not have a daughter. She had a pink cheek from the air bag, and her shoe was stuck between the van door and the seat and now is a size larger than its partner, but she amazingly was fine and the other two just felt like they got their eardrums blown out by the sound of the air bags. this was not anything that he did wrong, except possibly inexperience, but it’s something that can easily happen to us older folks too, and it’s not like I’ve never had a close call. I praised my children for having their seatbelts on though, because that boy might have gotten in huge trouble if they didn’t, whether or not they were hurt.

I think we as Christians should try to obey the law whenever possible, and we’re the annoying parents that always make sure that children in our car are wearing seatbelts, and that our children have a seatbelt in another vehicle or they cannot ride with the person. There are always exceptions, but I have known people whose life was saved by their seatbelt, including a teenager who rolled her vehicle last year (she was also saved by God and the rush of adrenaline that got her out of that vehicle before it exploded.).

I am concerned that some of the youth don’t seem to find an issue with speeding/showing off, and that, according to my children, one of the youth around here even have a radar detector so that they can slow down if a cop is around, and I think distracted driving is an issue for youth and adults, and it’s something that I need to improve in my life as well.

I also am more paranoid about them playing around vehicles or equipment, partly because of my own previous experience, and also just seeing near accidents with people’s children, or hearing about something happening. Ultimately, accidents happen, no one can pay perfect attention 100% of the time, and we can’t avoid everything, but we can do our part to drive responsibly, and not ignore phone laws or other laws made to reduce accidents/fatalities, for example. I think praying is never a bad idea and who knows how many things God has already spared us from, but that does not guarantee that bad things never happen. I personally think that churches should work to lovingly confront those who intentionally ignore laws, but I have no idea how that should actually look.

[Josh]

But why has it spiked up so much since 2019? It’s not like people are driving faster.

Smartphones. Depression and anger.

I agree. But those problems will be challenging to solve.

Perhaps as Anabaptists we could look at Anabaptist groups who eschew both cars and smartphones - frankly, I think anyone claiming to be “pro life” should care quite a bit more about auto fatalities and the fact the rate is going up up up.

[Bootstrap]

Perhaps as Anabaptists we could look at Anabaptist groups who eschew both cars and smartphones - frankly, I think anyone claiming to be “pro life” should care quite a bit more about auto fatalities and the fact the rate is going up up up.

Google Swartzentruber accidents buggies and it makes you wonder, though ...

[ohio jones]

Support the expansion of public transit, especially intercity high speed rail.