PieFedHow do we put a stop to road violence and curb excessive car use? Look at how we dealt with guns
frankPodmoreroad.cc/content/blog/how-stop-road-violence-loo…
Full disclosure: yes, this article is by me.
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madame_gaymesJust an FYI, this person is not referencing the USA's approach to gun laws. My gut reaction to the title, unfortunately, was, "so this author wants us to start driving cars into schools, now?"
But even so, this idea is strange and wasn't fully fleshed out. Just because you take large SUVs mostly off the street doesn't make cars any less dangerous to pedestrians, and removing criminal offenders from the drivers seat does absolutely nothing to counter drunks, and certainly nothing about oblivious drivers or older folks that rightfully should never touch a steering wheel again.
Also, a smart car can still kill a person, especially at 55mph as they used in their example. Like, ok, maybe one turns a human into a pink mist while the other just breaks their neck and slides them across the pavement. As long as the gore is less, then the fact that both humans died doesn't matter I guess.
yessikgThe higher the hood of the car, the more deadly it is. So yes, we need to be allowing only sedans and station wagons for regular drivers, and special licenses for trucks and vans
Basic physics says that lighter vehicles have less inertia, that carries less force, that stops faster and causes less damage. Let alone the host of other benefits of smaller cars, environmental, psychological, societal etc.
I'm not denying that smaller cars are more sane, I'm just saying that no matter what a car that weighs over a thousand pounds, especially at any sort of speed, still has great potential to kill. Motorcycles that weigh less have hit and killed pedestrians.
Indeed - but that’s not the central issue here.
Traffic casualties, like running a reverse casino and deciding which games to include, are a matter of statistics.
Something that will kill you 9 times / 10 vs 4/10 will simply cause less deaths, the same for lesser injuries, less cost on society in general.
I don’t see the value of equivocating the two by ignoring their statistics.
I get the point but thus literally is Apple's and oranges.
Guns aren't used for transport, cars are sometimes a necessity, guns are not
Agreed bad example, I think there are better cases to look at.
I think there's plenty to be learned from safer cities like Oslo and Helsinki.
I think they reduced traffic deaths by a combination of road/street design and building alternatives but they do also cite speed limit reduction and enforcement.
I do like what they're trying to do in Wales:
https://walesupdates.uk/news/welsh-road-deaths-plummet-after-20mph-speed-limit-roll-out
Hopefully it continues long enough to get some more decent stats on it before they are forced to relax the policy.
Scotland also has some pretty extensive 20mph zones. I also like that the 40mph that often extends out from villages for a km or so before the 20mph zone. That makes it a lot easier for occasional drivers like me to get my senses accustomed to what speed I should be going - and i can keeep my eyes on the road not so much the speedo. I've not seen any decent stats on reductions in deaths from those specific changes. I just feel a bit safer (and less dangerous) driving through a small town in Scotland than in England for some reason.
In theory it sounds like a good idea, but all of these plans miss one crucial point...
Criminals don't care if they break the law.
If someone is to the point of driving a car through a crowd, not having a car isn't going to stop them, just like how not having a gun didn't stop them, just like how not having a knife didn't stop them.
I'm not saying don't do anything, I just don't think punishing everyone because criminals are criminals is the answer.
People also makes this argument about guns, and yet gun controls work!
You are right, of course, that if someone really wants to hurt lots of people, they will likely find a way to do it. But that's no reason not to put barriers in their way. As for 'punishing the rest of us', I'm not sure that making cars a bit lighter amounts to a punishment!
I mean, the reason why cars are so bulky is that the government makes it cheaper for automile manufacturers to produce SUVs than any other car. If we really want to make the streets safer, we should tackle that issue first, rather than planning on adding taking away one's driver's licence as punishment.
Furthermore, there is a need for cars, as public transportation in some areas just isn't good enough. Taking away one's ability to legally drive a car is then not just an inconvenience, but might make it nigh impossible for some people to live.
Here in the US we can't even manage that. Guess I'll just die.