Poll: Auto Accident Fatalities and Injuries

[Josh]

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

My experience from living in a place with such things (DC) is the accident rate was higher than here in Ohio.

[temporal1]

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

i was loving my Seattle/King County ORCA bus pass until reading about drug residue.

UW assessment finds fentanyl and methamphetamine smoke linger on public transit vehicles
https://www.washington.edu/news/2023/09 ... -vehicles/



Ernie’s OP:

1. How can a culture become so "comfortable" with the amount of deaths and injuries by ..

Yes. By whatever preventable cause. Esp those deaths+injuries officially promoted+funded with public monies.

[Ernie]

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 ...

Anyone who subscribes to Plain-People-In-The-News (not to be confused with Plain News) will see buggy accidents reported frequently. Besides, just recently, as well as many times in the past, a van or car load of Old Orders is involved in an accident and many are killed.

https://www.tmj4.com/news/local-news/fa ... mi-and-van

[Ernie]

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.

I take the risk as well. But just because I take the risk, does not mean that am not concerned about decreasing that risk where possible. I understand that it is not your concern, but just wanting to point out that I think it is possible to do both... take the risk WHILE being concerned about decreasing risk.

[Ken]

This is from the New York Times last December so pretty recent statistics. Something definitely happened around 2019 that caused highway fatalities to shoot up in the US while continuing to decline elsewhere in the world. What it exactly is no one really seems to know the answer. The NYT explores this issue and came up with a combination of possible causes that may all be working together but found no specific satisfying answer: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/202 ... =url-share

Some possible causes that may be combining to produce this trend

1. Cell phone use and distracted driving (studies show that cell phone use and texting reduce reaction times even more than being inebriated).
2. Population shifts to the south where life is more car-centric and accident rates are higher
3. Larger and more unsafe SUVs and big trucks that cause more pedestrian fatalities and fatalities in drivers of smaller cars
4. Population growth means roads are more overcrowded, especially in the parts of the country experiencing fast population growth. The US is growing much faster than the UK, for example.
5. Pot legalization may mean more drivers are on the road high.



Also the dramatic disparity in traffic fatality rates by state. If people are moving from places like New York to Florida and South Carolina that could account for some of the increase in national numbers. But southern migration isn't a new trend that started in 2019.

[Ken]

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 ...

Anyone who subscribes to Plain-People-In-The-News (not to be confused with Plain News) will see buggy accidents reported frequently. Besides, just recently, as well as many times in the past, a van or car load of Old Orders is involved in an accident and many are killed.

https://www.tmj4.com/news/local-news/fa ... mi-and-van

In terms of statistics, if the Amish buggy is run over by a car or truck it counts as a motor vehicle fatality. Same as if a pedestrian gets run over by a car. I expect that the number of fatal Amish buggy accidents that don't involve cars is pretty low. Just like the number of pedestrian fatalities that don't involve getting run over by cars is pretty low.

[Ernie]

As America becomes more of a Central American population, we are getting more of a Central American auto fatality rate.

Except that this is not actually the case... Here are the numbers for those who care to know them...
https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Pu ... ion/813493#

https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/rankin ... h-America/

https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/rankin ... h-America/

[Ernie]

In terms of statistics, if the Amish buggy is run over by a car or truck it counts as a motor vehicle fatality. Same as if a pedestrian gets run over by a car. I expect that the number of fatal Amish buggy accidents that don't involve cars is pretty low. Just like the number of pedestrian fatalities that don't involve getting run over by cars is pretty low.

Pedestrian fatalities - stats

https://www.ghsa.org/sites/default/file ... ber%29.pdf

[Neto]

Thinking about it now, I can only remember actually witnessing a single highway accident. (Seen lots of them soon after, including one, as a young person, where as we passed the accident site on the school bus, I saw a man from our congregation hanging out of the open door of his car, his head down on the ground. (Yes, he was killed.) That image is still stuck in my mind.

But the one I actually saw was here in Holmes County. A Swartzentruber buggy came up over the hill toward us, and suddenly it spun into the air and flipped into the ditch. Amazingly, neither of the men were seriously injured. This was in the broad daylight, so forget about the fact that most Swartzentruber people do not use lights on their buggies. The front of the car that hit them was demolished as well. We stopped immediately, helped gather lost belongings, and I held the bridle while they worked to hold the wide-eyed horse down until they could get him (her?) completely free of the harness. I was the only witness, and stayed until the police arrived (much later). But they didn't take a statement or even record my name & contact info. The attending officer said that it was very obvious what had happened, and who was at fault.

Pedestrian rights are much different here than in Brazil, and I also once saw a bicyclist crowded over and knocked down by a semi. As he fell back onto the road way, he only narrowly raised his upper body in time to avoid being run over by the rear axle tires. Pedestrians basically do not have any rights there. You have to cross streets quickly, and if you stop to allow someone to cross in front of you, they are so disbelieving that they won't go.

Passing close: I didn't realize how much I had been affected by Brazilian driving habits until January of 1987, when a group came from the States to help us build the airstrip in the village area. Apparently I passed a bicyclist much closer than they would have done. I have a saying (in Portuguese) about passing close: "Eu sei passar perto. Por que no Brasil, tudo mundo passa perto. Passa muito perto. As vezes passa tao perto que nem passa." ("I know how to pass close. Because in Brazil, everyone passes close. Sometimes they pass so close that they don't even pass.") But actually, I try hard to avoid driving that way. But this habit is also a problem here in Holmes County. I walk back & forth to work every day, and this is a residential street, with small children. But lots of people come through here, because it's a sort of shortcut to the grocery store. And fast, and nor do they stay in their lane. Recently I gave a speeding Jeep driver the signal to slow down, and he floored it. He almost lost control at the curve near the end of our street. The crowded roads and highways, especially in "tourist season", has bred a severe lack of patience. I think that this is the main thing we can do, and I need to hear it as much as anyone else. Slow down, be patient. Extend grace. Not everyone who cuts you off or pulls smack in front of you meant to be nasty. We all sometimes make mistakes.

(Another one of my sayings: "If you want to be a leader here in Holmes County, all you have to do is drive the speed limit.")

[Josh]

As America becomes more of a Central American population, we are getting more of a Central American auto fatality rate.

Except that this is not actually the case... Here are the numbers for those who care to know them...
https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Pu ... ion/813493#

https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/rankin ... h-America/

https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/rankin ... h-America/

In Central America a lot of people can’t afford cars. If they migrate to the U.S., they can. The culture in the third world is quite different than traditional expectations in first world countries.

America has a massive influx of third world people who bring their culture (such as ignoring traffic laws) with them.