U.S. highway fatalities down 9% thus far in 2008

emersonbiggins

That proverbial silver lining...

Bas

ah, the first proof that peakoil will not result in a die-off but instead will cause a massive live-on! Rolling Eyes

; )
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"The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time."

- Abraham Lincoln

Starvid

So people who want lower gas prices are anti-life? Or if that sounds too negative to you: pro-death.
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Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.

Tyler_JC

In 2002, car accidents were the 8th leading cause of death in the United States.

Moreover, for every age between 3 and 33, car accidents were THE leading cause of death.

Car crashes kill young, healthy people.

I regard the drop in highway fatalities as good news but I'm sure the doomers disagree. Cool

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yesplease · Fission Joined: Oct 03, 2006 Posts: 2482

Here's more.

yesplease · Fission Joined: Oct 03, 2006 Posts: 2482

There tend to be quite a few silver linings in terms of congestion, noise, accidents, pollution, a reduction in GHG emissions, that end up offsetting the impact of driving reductions on the economy. At ~$300-1,700 billion/year in externalized costs, reductions in driving may turn out to be positive since consumers can spend their income in other aspects of the economy and externalized costs drop. The biggest pain comes from when consumers can't or won't change to reflect the increase in price.
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IslandCrow

Thanks for the info EB. 9% reduction is a huge number! Smile

This answers the short term part of a question that is going through my mind, but not the long term:

BAckground: In less developed countries there is crowding on ill repaired cars/trucks/boats etc, which often lead to large casualty figures. Also I read somewhere that every year in the States 3 times more people die in road accidents than died in 911.

The question is "will the reduction of deaths caused by people driving less/slower be nullified by more fatalities due to overcrowding of vehicles and to the vehicles being in poorer condition than now?"
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We should teach our children the 4-Rs: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Rejoice.

emersonbiggins

mrsea

This is an obvious setback for those of us concerned with population overshoot.

skeptik

Twilight · Expert Joined: Mar 02, 2007 Posts: 3076 Location: UK

So, driving bigger cars finally worked, but not quite in the way intended? Very Happy

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Volatility. When life isn't exciting enough.

heroineworshipper

The opposite is happening here in the real world. Rising prices make people consume more & drive their SUV's more. They want to get in more driving ahead of future higher prices.

Gas dropped 2% last week & for the first time in months, there was empty real estate at the gas stations. Demand falls when prices fall because they expect future lower prices.
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People first, then things, then dollars.
There will be enslavement, cannibalism, & zombie invasions.

kublikhan

cube · Fusion Joined: Mar 12, 2005 Posts: 3776

The greatest danger usually happens not because of speed but instead when there's a huge differential between speeds.
For example if someone is doing 30mph over the speed limit that creates an unsafe condition. Visualize this:
If everybody is going the exact same speed how can there be a car accident?
That's why previously when the speed limit was raised from 55 to 65mph it did not lead to more accidents.
I'm guessing high gas prices is encouraging some of those "heavy foot" drivers to slow down to the speed limit.

3aidlillahi