40,000 people a year die in auto accidents?

Question

Was watching "most shocking" on tv and they stated 40,000 people a year die in US auto accidents,

Instead of worrying about alternative fuels shouldn't we be worrying about alternative transportation.

I live out in farmy are now while at back at college, so I understand how much we need cars, nearest store is 3 towns away, but when i lived in boston I could beat any of my friends to bars by hopping trains and busses, I didn't have to worry about D.U.I.'s either

Americans flip out when other causes kill much less people, but no one seems to care that it could be anyone of us at almost anytime, even those that don't drive, how many times you see a pedestrian get hit on tv, or a car drive through the front of a store.

Most americans have a car payment, auto insurance payment, and then gas and constant repairs for the things, tires etc.

subway passes are much cheaper, wish there was a subway system out here. but thats to expensive to build vs how many people would ride it,

Answer 1

thanks for that statement and this week, especially the end of this week when people have lost sleep due to the time change, is a much higher rate of crashes. I call them crashes since they are not accidents but rather due to a particular reason such as not getting enough sleep, not paying attention or speed etc. It is very dangerous to be on the road

Answer 2

Yes, as we spend billions of dollars on new security measures both for travel and home and accept the billions of wasted extra travel hours associated with them, it is fair to seek accountability - to ensure we're spending the money wisely and getting the security we're promised in return.

Answer 3

In 05, for example, more motorists were killed in motor vehicle mishaps than the total that were murdered with guns and with AIDS - COMBINED...And that doesn't include pedestrians, bicyclists, buses or trucks!!

Driving is such a common part of our daily lives...And there is nothing to it - sit in a comfy chair, at least one hand on a wheel, one foot on a pedal, air conditioned, nice tunes on the radio, maybe a bite to eat, a cup of joe...No brainer...And therein lies the crux of the problem...Although driving only requires 5-10% physical effort, it demands 100% mental attention...And to do that requires discipline and maturity...So  long as we keep getting ways to divert our attention from the road (cell phone, GPS, PDA, make-up, newspaper, laptop, etc), the carnage will continue.

Answer 4

We can and probably should start worrying about developing "alternative transportation" (by that I'm guessing you mean mass transit systems like trains, buses etc.,).  The problem is that unlike say, Europe, the USA is much more spread out, making it far more difficult to develop mass transit systems that are practical enough for people to choose to use them over driving individual vehicles.

My first thought when I saw "40,000 people a year die in auto accidents" was actually on how poor of a job the US does in training and continuing education of their drivers.  I think a much better way to lower the number of deaths due to auto crashes would be to train and test our drivers more frequently.  

Do you realize that most if not all 35 year old drivers on the road in the US who got their licenses at age 16 haven't been tested on their driving skills or had any formal training in 19 years!  Most 60 year olds have gone 44 years without a test of their skills or any formal training!!

I have had to drive quite a bit over the past 5 years for my job and I can tell you from experience that many American drivers lack even the most basic driving skills  - from changing lanes without looking or signalling to tailgating incessantly without the skill to stop in time to "parking" in the left lane while driving 5-10 mph under the speed limit and to talking non-stop on a cell phone while paying little attention to the traffic around them to having no clue how to handle a car in slippery conditions if the car slides at all, I'm actually amazed that the number isn't higher than 40,000 deaths per year - that must be a testament to the safety engineering in modern cars if nothing else.