Good article in todays L.A. Times on a major problem. Death By Automobile. Although it doesn’t come to the conclusion that cutting auto use might be the answer, it does bring up some horrific numbers.
It also bring up the point that horsepower is way outa control these days. If there’s thing I think would make our cities more conducive to biking and walking, it would be to bring down the speed limits.
illustration by QuickHoney
Statistically, driving a car is the most dangerous thing that most people do. Smoking is a deadlier practice, but only a minority of people smoke. Driving a car is something that nearly all adults do in the U.S., and automobile collisions kill about 40,000 people per year in the United States, each and every year. This information comes from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (the federal government).
Yearly traffic fatality data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Institute can be clicked on from this page:
http://www.nhtsa.gov/portal/site/nhtsa/menuitem.9fa154a4d39f02e770f6df1020008a0c/
Just go to this page, and under “What’s New, Latest Updates and Feature on our site”, click on “7/23/07: 2006 Traffic Fatalities and Injury Assessments”.
This is amazing stuff! Love (of automobiles) truly must be blind!