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Comment by TacticalCoder | Hacker News Reader

Germany always is doing super well in these rankings. Yet 2/3rd of the highways have no speed limit at all. It's of course unsurprising: all cars are driving in the same direction on the highway so head-on collisions on the highways are extremely rare.

Also pedestrian deaths on the highway: the number is so minuscule it doesn't even register.

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However, crossing the autobahn on foot is actually forbidden (§ 18, Absatz 9, StVO), so there is a "jaywalking" law in Germany that probably helps reducing pedestrian deaths on the highway.

>> head-on collisions on the highways are extremely rare.

And they aren't as dangerous as many would think. Cars have done lots to improve such collisions (airbags, crumple zones). A head-on collision between cars is still two relatively lightweight objects. Hit a concrete wall, overpass support, cliff or tree and you are going up against an object that makes a care look like tinfoil. The head-on seems bad, but it is more survivable than having your car bisected around a tree trunk. Or get pulled under a big truck.

In terms of the physics involved, a head-on collision with a similar vehicle traveling at the same speed as you is equivalent to hitting a concrete wall.

Yes, in the classroom physics lesson. In reality, vehicles never hit perfectly square on to each other. They are slightly offset, causing them to rotate/spin around each other during the collision, spreading a single impact into multiple smaller ones. Or the taller car climbs over the shorter. It is very rare to see two cars squished into each other head on as would happen against a perpendicular wall.

Germany does have jaywalking laws though. I'm not sure about Holland which has very low pedestrian deaths.

Only for red traffic lights and marked pedesteian crossings. Everything else is fair game, as it should be. One has to love the fact that in the land of the free one cannot cross a street where one wants.

"One has to love the fact that in the land of the free one cannot cross a street where one wants."

This is only really true for a very small number of places in the US, even smaller when you consider the lack of enforcement.

The land of the free has 50 states with various laws. Luckily mine is freer than most and we have no jaywalking laws. However, the pedestrian must yield to traffic but is allowed to cross when it’s safe. I suppose a city could enforce their own traffic law and make it illegal.

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