Accidents are only 7th in the top 10 killers, and automobile accidents are a fraction of that category[2].
If we want to tackle major causes of death, this is the place to start:
1. http://www.policymic.com/articles/24365/9-leading-causes-of-...
Don't get me wrong -- I agree with your premise and with the point you are making -- but I think that, as far as the legal and public safety systems are concerned, traffic issues don't go into the same category as alcohol consumption. Alcohol consumption is primarily self-destructive, whereas dangerous driving is not (arguably, someone wearing a seatbelt and protected by airbags is probably safer than someone riding a bike when they get hit by a car).
A good first step would probably be to discourage the superfluous use of cars. I passionately hate people who absolutely have to drive their cars over a distance they could cover, on foot, in thirty minutes, when they aren't really rushed by anything. Seriously, get off your lazy ass and walk, or at least take the bus...
There are real dollar costs to our overall quality of life from society's health self abuse expense. Excuse the graphic image, but a car accident is generally walk away or dead, while health care for the long term unhealthy keeps bleeding once it starts.
"The motorist advocacy group AAA said accidents cost $164.2 billion each year, which based on the methodology used in the report comes to an annual per person cost of $1,051." (2008)
By comparison, some other systemic costs:
- $190 billion in annual medical costs due to obesity (2012)
- CDC reports excessive alcohol consumption cost the U.S. $224 billion (2006)
- Total annual public and private health care expenditures caused by smoking: $96 billion
- Taxpayers yearly fed/state tax burden from smoking-caused gov’t spending: $70.7 billion
- Productivity losses caused by smoking each year: $97 billion
Obesity alone or alcohol alone cost us all more than accidents. I for one have other "quality of life" things I'd like to do with my money than subsidize "self destructive" choice.
> I passionately hate people who absolutely have to drive their cars
I clock under 4K miles a year, mostly long distance trips with four or more passengers. But I'm fortunate enough to live near NYC and use public transportation. It's a lot harder in most of the US. Comparing communities across the US and Europe, it seems the best way to affect driving culture is with community layouts that put food (groceries and restaurants) within easy walking distance.
Agreed. But there are other factors at stake in alcoholism or obesity, too. Excluding drunk driving, which is in a league of its own (and alcoholism definitely plays a factor there!), most of the people who drive dangerously are simply jerks. Many alcoholics have legitimate economic, social, personal or even psychical problems that lead them on this track, and many obese people are obese as a result of, or partly due to underlying conditions (e.g. endocrine system problems) or simply due to not being able to easily get the amount healthy food and exercise they need. Whereas a lot of people involved in accidents like this one are just idiots.
People are not obligated to be healthy or to have habits you consider healthy.
People who drink themselves to death cannot be said to be "choosing" to do that in any meaningful way.
We've just termed those deaths "acceptable" or pretend that they are "natural causes" because the victims tend to be in the second half of an expected lifespan.
However, other than increased mental health care funding I struggle to imagine what governmental policy would have helped those I've lost. A sin tax would have done nothing for these people (hell, prohibition wouldn't have worked either).
Legislating 1 meter barriers between auto and bicycle traffic is incredibly simple compared to attempting to legislate the psycho-social forces of addiction. We don't have to limit our social change to legislation but that's the mindset from first reply was made in.
1. http://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/fact-sheets/alcohol-use.htm
2. http://www.cdc.gov/homeandrecreationalsafety/bikeinjuries.ht...
Smoking is abhorrent but it still tends to kill the older, car accidents kill young people.