Comments on: A national crisis ignored by our leaders: Traffic accidents

By: DarthBrooks

DarthBrooks — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 04:14:40 +0000

Mandatory air bags on cell phones. It’s the only right thing to do.

By: The Thin Man Returns

The Thin Man Returns — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 03:07:45 +0000

Ah, yes – more and greater government intervention against the ability of the individual to go where he pleases, when he pleases and how he pleases. It’s worked so well in Australia (for nanny statists and bureaucratic control freaks). Look out America – here it comes. The first and most obvious attack point will be drink-driving which makes a lot of sense to start with but ends up being a convenient way of criminalising all drivers. The blood alcohol limit for driving in Australia was 0.08 in the 1970s then in the ’80s it was reduced to 0.05. Now they’re talking about zero. Yes, that’s right – zero. Have a cold beer on a hot day and you can’t drive for 12 hours; have a few beers at a Sunday afternoon BBQ and you can’t drive to work in the morning. And does even the current 0.05 limit stop drunk drivers? No. They still catch massively over the limit drink drivers. But the point of dropping the limit to zero is to enable the police to stop and test drivers for no reason whatsoever.

By: Buddahpundit

Buddahpundit — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 02:51:47 +0000

Can you imagine if the car and airplane hadn’t been invented in the past but were instead invented today? Neither would see the light of day. Democrats would blame Republicans for wanting to see your family die in those things and it’s likely that the Republicans would oppose it based on not wanting to be blamed for for any death or injury that would occur.

Women weren’t allowed to vote back when those things got going. That’s all.

By: dts-01

dts-01 — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 02:29:55 +0000

I can’t tell if this is a joke. Is this guy a mediocre up and coming satirist?

By: cam2

cam2 — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 02:21:54 +0000

The problem is too much government intervention already. They have mandated fuel standards which has resulted in lighter vehicles which cause more injuries in accidents.

JimK on October 2, 2012 at 9:43 PM

Sorry, not true. Injuries have declined in tandem with fatalities.
http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2012/tables/12s1106.pdf

By: Dusty

Dusty — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 01:53:05 +0000

D'oh, ... According to this

By: rogerb

rogerb — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 01:48:22 +0000

No mention of how the federally-mandated added weight has kept mpg essentially unchanged since the 80s…

By: Dusty

Dusty — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 01:47:34 +0000

But it somehow IS clear that we need massive government intervention.

Brilliant deduction there, Sherlock.

[logis on October 2, 2012 at 9:29 PM]

According to this, fatalities per million vehicle miles went from 1.56 in 2000 to 1.11 in 2010, with two slight blips up in 2002 and 2005.

I don’t know what 2011-12 are, but it really doesn’t matter. Like I said, Carl’s concern trolling for this to be a gotcha question at the debate for Mitt, kind of like the birth control thingie Stephanopoulos pulled. If I were on Mitt’s team, I’d have something ready, ’cause it’s ripe for exaggeration of facts, stats and solutions.

By: JimK

JimK — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 01:43:19 +0000

The problem is too much government intervention already. They have mandated fuel standards which has resulted in lighter vehicles which cause more injuries in accidents.

By: CorporatePiggy

CorporatePiggy — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 01:39:33 +0000

About 90+% of the time I see someone driving in a way that 25 years ago would have prompted serious accusations the driver is drunk they are holding a cell phone to their ear.

farsighted on October 2, 2012 at 9:26 PM

Texting is far far worse. I see people texting in heavy traffic at 80 mph almost every day. That’s about 180 feet per second in a vehicle that may weigh 3800 lbs if it is a midsize sedan.

Texting is far worse because people who generally can’t drive take their eyes off the road for *seconds*. And then collisions happen. There’s nothing ‘accidental’ about them.