• HexBroke [any, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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    5 days ago

    Even as vehicle deaths have continued falling in most counties, they have risen in this country.

    Here’s a stark way of thinking about the problem: If the U.S. had made as much progress reducing vehicle crashes as other high-income countries had over the past two decades, about 25,000 fewer Americans would die every year.

    • Saeculum [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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      5 days ago

      No one drives the speed limit in the UK either. You’ll normally see people going 80-ish to 90mph on motorways where the legal limit is 70.

      It’s not necessarily related to road safety in general.

      • O__O [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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        5 days ago

        I drive just under the speed limit everywhere at all times. Even 1mph under will cause other drivers to fucking lose it in under 30 seconds of being behind me. It’s glorious.

        • TrudeauCastroson [he/him]@hexbear.net
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          4 days ago

          Canada has the same vehicle size issue. Large pickup trucks/SUVs are similarly popular. Everyone here goes 15km/h over, unless there’s speed cameras which are only by schools.

          I wouldn’t be surprised if impaired driving was a big factor, in Canada it’s the equivalent of a felony even if you don’t hit anyone. In the US it seems like people treat it closer to being a speed ticket.

    • ouRKaoS@lemmy.today
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      5 days ago

      I’d love to see graphs on how much people in each country drive, as you basically have to drive everywhere in the US due to unwalkable cities and no public transportation.

      • ssj2marx@lemmy.ml
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        4 days ago

        Yeah I think that if you correct for miles driven the US’ roads are actually safer than most other countries, and the difference comes down to how much of our infrastructure is built to separate cars from everyone else. Still the least total deaths are in the places with the least driving, since having good car-centric infrastructure can’t fully solve the problem.