Car Crashes in the US: Who's Responsible, Who Bears the Costs, and How We Talk About It (with Data!)

Рет қаралды 84,008

Күн бұрын

The United States has a road safety problem. Americans die from traffic violence at a far higher rate than people who live in similarly developed countries like the UK, Japan, and Australia.
This video reviews the state of traffic safety in the US, looking at how people die on our transportation system, how trends have changed over time, and how much work is left to be done. While motor vehicles have become heavier and more powerful, auto manufacturers have also dramatically improved features (like airbags and crumple zones) that have led to better overall crash survivability for car drivers and passengers.
At the same time, safety for people walking, biking, and rolling has gotten worse, with few engineering improvements to protect vulnerable road users.
We'll spend lots of time with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Fatality Analysis Reporting System, looking at how all the data is coded and what it can tell us. And we'll talk about prospects for future transportation safety improvements.
Other CityNerd Videos referenced:
- Top Urbanist Ballparks: • What Is Urbanism? 2022...
- The Problem With Pickup Trucks: • Why Absurdly Large Tru...
- The Stroad Ecosystem Examined: • The Stroad: A Case Stu...
- Cost of Car Dependency 2022: • The All-In Cost of Car...
Resources:
"How the Brooklyn Subway Shooting Unfolded" By Keith Collins, Lazaro Gamio, Evan Grothjan, Marco Hernandez, Taylor Johnston, Eleanor Lutz, Yuliya Parshina-Kottas and Amy Schoenfeld Walker for the New York Times, available at www.nytimes.com/interactive/2...
NTD data: www.transit.dot.gov/ntd
NHTSA Crash Data Systems: www.nhtsa.gov/data/crash-data...
NHTSA Overview of Motor Vehicle Crashes in 2020: crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/...
CDC National Vital Statistics Report 2019: www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nv...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...
NHTSA Traffic Safety Facts 2019: crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/...
Chicago Vision Zero High Crash Corridors Plan 2018: secureservercdn.net/198.71.23...
NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System: www.nhtsa.gov/research-data/f...
Image Credits:
- Causes of death in the US vs media coverage By Our World In Data - ourworldindata.org/terrorism#..., CC BY-SA 4.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
- Jan 6 insurrection photo By Tyler Merbler from USA - DSC09254-2, CC BY 2.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
- Airbags By Pineapple fez - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
- Crumple zone By Janne. from Finland - Vagi paalattu Uploaded by Antti Leppänen, CC BY-SA 2.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
- Traffic Strop by Chris Yarzab on Flickr www.flickr.com/photos/chrisya... creativecommons.org/licenses/...
- Traffic Calming By FlugKerl2 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
- Tesla dashboard By Ian Maddox - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
- Crash thumbnail Image By Charles Edward Miller from Chicago, United States - Car Crash 7-1-18 2245, CC BY-SA 2.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
Music:
CityNerd background: Caipirinha in Hawaii by Carmen María and Edu Espinal (KZfaq music library)
Twitter: @nerd4cities
Instagram: @nerd4cities
Contact: nerd4cities@gmail.com

Пікірлер: 827

@lightdark00 2 жыл бұрын

I hate when I'm walking and I lose control and run into a car. 🤣

@Sythemn 2 жыл бұрын

Many years ago, my mother's car was hit and dented by a drunk pedestrian while getting ready to leave a White Castle.

@CityNerd 2 жыл бұрын

I can’t wait for the lane-keeping assist wetware update! My brain is ready for the download!!

@SharienGaming 2 жыл бұрын

@@Sythemn did she survive?

@jan-lukas 2 жыл бұрын

Oh noo, I just killed a driver by running into his car!

@herodotosofhalicarnassus1002 Жыл бұрын

Sometimes a vehicle can't see you when you are in the road. Responsibility is a two-way street. Don't step off curbs into the road from behind cover and you'll be less likely to be hit.

@TheRealE.B. 2 жыл бұрын

*"Oh, no, bridge collapses in the news have me anxious about whether the large bridge I drive across every day to get to work is dangerous."* _"You don't need to wonder. People routinely die on that bridge in multi-vehicle accidents that don't even make the news."_

@rokksula4082 2 жыл бұрын

Makes you wonder how many lives were saved by those cracks forming on the West Seattle bridge causing it to remain closed for over two years and counting.

@lj2265 2 жыл бұрын

@@rokksula4082 Yes thank goodness for our unwillingness to invest money in infrastructure lmao There is a silver lining afterall

@CityNerd 2 жыл бұрын

Yeah, humans are deeply irrational. It's not a criticism -- it just is.

@seanjohnson3291 2 жыл бұрын

laughs in Chesapeake Bay Bridge... let's add a third span that'll fix everything

@knarf_on_a_bike 2 жыл бұрын

Got hit from behind in February. On my bike. By a large SUV. On a stroad. At an intersection. I was where I should be. Driver lied and told cops I swerved into his path. Cops never asked my side of the story, possibly because I was in the ambulance. Luckily all x rays were negative. "Only" $600 damage to my bike. Out of my pocket. Plus two weeks of pain. I'm a rather bitter man right now. . .

@GojiMet86 2 жыл бұрын

Reminds me of a sad accident in Astoria, Queens almost a year ago. A delivery worker was killed when a driver crashed her Mercedes-Benz into an outdoor restaurant. The whole thing was caught on camera and the car had had previous peeding violations in school zones. The driver insisted that she had been hit from a car behind, but that wasn't true. Then the police said she had had a medical episode, but that wasn't true either. In fact, her husband had said she had been perfectly fine. Finally, the DA declined to prosecute her for criminal charges, despite the evidence. Streetsblog tried to get the video footage but that was declined. So it's not just about making streets calmer, it's also about getting the law and the police to care about them.

@whazzat8015 2 жыл бұрын

The police are enforcing shared social values That don't exist.

@lj2265 2 жыл бұрын

Well, it has been said that the police mainly protect the rich and the rich aren't exactly famous for taking public transportation lol

@CityNerd 2 жыл бұрын

Incredible. That hurts -- Astoria is one of my all time favorite places (both the Queens and the Oregon versions)

@GojiMet86 2 жыл бұрын

@@CityNerd Yep, it's home for me. I was surprised they didn't go after the driver.

@timdowney6721 2 жыл бұрын

@@lj2265 Nor having much in the way of morals.

@janmelantu7490 2 жыл бұрын

“Pedestrian loss of control” sounds like slipping on ice. Maybe we should be clearing the snow & ice from sidewalks and not just roads

@Dellvmnyam Жыл бұрын

Sometimes something happens that I lose control and start colliding with the passing-by cars. Thankfully nobody has been injured yet.

@beetdiggingcougar Жыл бұрын

Loving how Toronto clears sidewalks. It's pretty nice.

@MichaelSalo Жыл бұрын

We also have to start demanding raised crosswalks, if we're going to have a modicum of safety. Ramps down to street level are hazards in icy conditions.

@hibutmars1024 2 жыл бұрын

as a survivor of a pretty bad car accident at the ripe age of 19, I appreciate you making this video... I was just driving home and a dui hit me going like 80mph in heavy traffic... my first car was totaled, my elderly sdad was injured, and I was left with permanent brain damage. I hate how I'm forced to drive to do anything in Cali.. for a while I was traumatised... I still love the car, but I wish we had more options in terms of transportation within civilisation... i think I already mentioned in the comments before, but my wifey insists we move to UK (her home country), where, although car centric, one isn't tied to driving everywhere... and city driving is 40 mph maximum... and tbh, I'm going to permanently move from this hell of California. Much love!

@carstarsarstenstesenn Жыл бұрын

I had a similar traumatic situation with my sister. DUI came out of nowhere in broad daylight and slammed into us. We were stopped at a light. Amazing we walked away with no severe injuries because the car was totaled. I just can't help but think how easily that crash could have been prevented and how easily one of us could have died

@familykaplan1341 10 ай бұрын

Many Californians are moving to FL.

@ska042 9 ай бұрын

@@familykaplan1341 That's just moving to a different flavored slightly cheaper hell, no?

@malaquiasalfaro81 8 ай бұрын

What part of California? I lived in it all my life and it was fairly walkable. NorCal.

@ShelterDogs Ай бұрын

Goes both ways. Many Floridians are moving to CA and among other states.

@pablogaeta3815 2 жыл бұрын

Here's a topic I would like someone to discuss: Most states recognize that driving creates a risk to the public. To accommodate that risk, drivers are, in most states, required to have liability insurance, to protect the public from the harm that a driver can cause. BUT, most states insurance requirements come NOWHERE NEAR covering the actual risk of harm a driver creates. For example, in NJ, a driver is required to have $15,000 per claimant and $30,000 per incident. Any driver can cause many times that amount of damage at any moment. BUT, we can't raise the minimum insurance requirements to actually protect the public from crashes, because the premiums would be prohibitive. And, because our society and economy demands that people drive, we can't exclude from the driving population everyone who can't afford these premiums. So, what happens is that either a. the victims bear the cost of people being under insured and/or the taxpayers wind up bearing this cost as people wind up on disability, medicaid, etc. this is just another cost of our car dependency which is generally not accounted for. the victims tend to be fairly invisible to our society.

@jacobfalardeau676 2 жыл бұрын

I work in auto insurance in Canada and it really puts the danger presented by cars into perspective. A small mistake by a motorist can easily ruin the lives of a lot of people. That's why we require insurance. It's CRAZY how low the liability limits are in the US. Ontario requires $200,000 of 3rd party liability coverage but no insurance company offers less than $1,000,000. I can't imagine having the legal minimum that some states have. In my experience, even 1 million isn't enough liability coverage and that's in Canada and not the US with high medical costs! Insurance is expensive here (Average premium is $CA1,634/yr) but that's largely the result of the fact that we have a well-rounded standardized auto insurance policy that is defined by the government. Every insurance company offers the same policy and there is a list of pre-approved endorsements/riders that can be stuck on. Average industry wide profit is 3.8%. If you went out and bought the absolute bare minimum insurance to drive legally in Ontario you would have: -$1,000,000 in Third Party Liability ($200,000 is the legal minimum but no company that I know of offers it) -Up to $65,000 (1 million for catastrophic injuries) for rehabilitation and attendant care costs. -Up to $100/week for housekeeping and maintenance. -Income replacement of 70% of your income up to $400 a week. -Funeral benefit of $6,000 -Death benefit of $25,000 to your spouse and $10,000 to each child. -(You wouldn't have coverage for damage to your own car unless it was not your fault, that is separate collision coverage) I can't stress this enough, those accident benefits are no-fault so you get access to them regardless of whether or not you caused the accident and regardless of the circumstances. It's any injury incurred while operating a motor vehicle by anyone involved so if you hit a cyclist with your car that cyclist can claim the benefits listed above. I've even seen cases where people have pulled over to assist a cyclist who was struck by another car and they were able to make a claim under the assisting car's insurance (Not an at-fault so it would not raise rates). The system was designed so that the costs fall to insurers before they fall to the government or tax payers. We factor the cost of paying out these claims in the rates we charge insurers, my experience with the Canadian insurance industry is that they're not out to deny valid claims for stupid reasons. Pretty much any claim that isn't obviously fraudulent is approved and the cost of doing so is factored into the rates. Worst case scenario, there's a Motor Vehicle Victims Fund set--up for people harmed by accidents that would otherwise not be covered. It's not perfect, costs in some cities like Brampton and Vaughan are extremely high due to rampant fraud but other provinces are similar in terms of insurance and have even better systems. Several provinces like Saskatchewan, Quebec, and Manitoba legally require drivers to purchase basic liability insurance from the government.

@pablogaeta3815 2 жыл бұрын

@@jacobfalardeau676 wow.. thanks for that thoughtful detailed reply! the only thing I take issue with is calling that premium expensive! I pay $675 a year for far less coverage (in NJ). My liability limit is $300,000 and it is only at fault. All of the other benefits are less although I don't have the data handy. But honestly, the rate you quote seems pretty reasonable! To deal with the number of uninsured drivers, NJ now allows people to drive with what are called basic policies with no liability coverage. They specifically suggest buying one if you don't have any assets to protect! (As if the public interest is not a factor). www.state.nj.us/dobi/division_consumers/insurance/basicpolicy.shtml

@jacobfalardeau676 2 жыл бұрын

I can't imagine driving without liability insurance, let alone not requiring everyone to have it that just looks like it's an accident waiting to happen, if you'll forgive the terrible pun. Ontario is the most expensive place to get car insurance in Canada despite having the safest roads; It's still better than getting into an accident and having my life ruined or even worse, being hit by a uninsured car while walking down the street and not being able to make a claim. Your life is ruined and it's not even your fault, you could sue them but they almost definitely won't have any assets to go after. North Americans are used to cars like fish are used to water and they don't appreciate the amount of destruction cars can cause, all it takes it one mistake and you have not only ruined your life but the lives of a lot of people. I've seen claims where it's two cars going 40 km/h, one turns left in front of the other, BANG. Unfortunately, the car that got cut off had an elderly couple inside so they ended up needing extensive physiotherapy. Total cost of the accident was over $460,000, and that's for a "minor" left-turn incident, can you imagine the impact a pile-up on the highway would have?

@enjoyslearningandtravel7957 2 жыл бұрын

@@jacobfalardeau676 Some people driving without car insurance at all. A couple driving hit my parents car and took off and drove away leaving their car with problems and them with injuries.

@klobiforpresident2254 2 жыл бұрын

@@jacobfalardeau676 After I spent some weeks visiting a friend in Brampton and, consequently, travelled through Brampton and Vaughan regularly I believe that fraud is not the only reason insurance rates are so high there. I'm sure you have a better insight into crash rates but I can't believe they aren't heightened there (given the amount of near-collisions I was in during the stay).

@DerrickJolicoeur 2 жыл бұрын

Despite my efforts bicycling to work, deep down I know it's a liability for my own safety and it scares me. We really do need policy to prevent these things.

@CityNerd 2 жыл бұрын

I feel the same. I've been lucky enough with my biking -- the one time I got injured, a driver ran a stop sign. It happens, but am I supposed to slow down at every opposing stop sign just in case a driver blows through again? Doesn't seem tenable. I hate it.

@tim333y7 2 жыл бұрын

Cycling instead of driving also adds years to your life, because you are healthier, so instead of being sad about something that you most likely cant control, be happy that you do something positive, that you can control

@rothjoseph 2 жыл бұрын

I had to stop commuting via bike due to a few too many close calls. Many of them in the 25 mph "residential" areas. When they hopefully complete the grade separated bike path near my home, I look forward to being able to go back to that mode of transportation with having only a few blocks on streets shared with vehicles.

@HallsofAsgard96 2 жыл бұрын

@@CityNerd Know a dude who broke the same leg twice while biking. Im not afraid to admit i wont even try it. Living in NYC I see people biking in the middle of buses and cars along busy streets like fifth ave...couldnt be me

@qjtvaddict 2 жыл бұрын

Haha high speed E scooter

@xxrockraiderxx 2 жыл бұрын

I personally have a belief that heavy car use creates a lack of empathy for other people as you don't see them as people but instead other boxes on the road. Statistics like this almost prove that though. Drivers going at some 140mph and the reason for the crash is "tyre blow out" because surely it couldn't have been the person making a poor decision and not caring about its impact upon other people. The amount of excuses given for what is basically murder or manslaughter is insane. Heck there was even a reason for the driver being distracted called "Personal Dispute" meaning that the driver didn't like someone and got "distracted" and rammed their car into either another car or a pedestrian or cyclist. Absolutely mental. I like being on transit cos I get to see other people and see them interact. I get a small glimpse into their lives and get to see that they are just as human as me. I don't get that in a car cos I can barely even see people's outlines through the glass, let alone their faces. I think that sort of thinking needs to be built in people, to show that others have lives just as interesting as yours and that you should care for people. But that's just my two cents on the matter.

@ujai5271 2 жыл бұрын

"if we had 100 people get killed in public transit every day, we would never hear the end of it." I really hope this video takes off. It is too important not to. I have shared it with everyone I can, and I hope you do, too.

@sangle120 2 жыл бұрын

If as many died on public transit as do on roads we would put a stop to public transport.

@rudinah8547 2 жыл бұрын

Amazed you kept calm during this video. I was fuming at every passing minute, everything about this data makes me angry. Automobile culture is truly such a scourge on this world

@beckobert 2 жыл бұрын

The relationship humanity has with cars is the definition of toxic.

@lj2265 2 жыл бұрын

@@beckobert Whenever people talk about North Korea one of the top things people will comment on is how they don't have any cars and like... pretty sure they have worse things to deal with than not having a car lmao We're so obsessed with them we'll look at severely oppressed people and be like "The poor dears... look at them... they don't have cars! They bike everywhere!"

@CityNerd 2 жыл бұрын

Yeah, I can't actually operate with that level of anger, and it's not really my style -- but I feel you

@stevelewis7501 2 жыл бұрын

@@beckobert it's not humanity, it's America. No other rich country is even close. Look at the data he cites at the beginning.

@stevengordon3271 2 жыл бұрын

@@stevelewis7501 China is the richest country in the world - it's data is not on that list, but I can imagine that it would be at least as bad if it was both accurate and public. India is not a poor country and its traffic fatality data makes the US look like a walk in the park.

@reese924 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the video. Almost got hit by a car when walking to school yesterday. I was in a crosswalk and my signal gave me the right of way. It made me reflect on how quickly a car can take someone's life. As a pedestrian you really have to assume you are invisible because if you don't you might get run over. edit: even if you do pretend you are invisible and are extra careful you are still in danger.

@knosis 2 жыл бұрын

I almost got hit while walking home from school about 2 hours ago 🙃... I was also in the crosswalk and I knew the person who almost hit me 😭

@johnmaaate2833 2 жыл бұрын

There's this crosswalk I cross everyday on the way to work. Pretty much 9 times out of 10 at least one person speeds through the red light because God forbid they have to wait 10 seconds.

@svengeboers3446 2 жыл бұрын

Recently I saw a readers letter in the news paper about her niece that was killed when crossing the road. The thing is, she wasn't following the law and what she did was wrong but the main takeaway was that a small mistake like that shouldn't cost someone their life. Sure she crossed the street wrong but are we really okay with people getting killed because they cross the road the wrong way?

@blubaughmr 2 жыл бұрын

When I'm cycling or walking, my mindset is that the cars are predators and I"m prey. I'm always watching out.

@LiveType 2 жыл бұрын

I fly fast and loose on a bike. I've never felt like I was at risk as I essentially pretend I'm invisible as that's the number 1 policy for riding a bike/being a pedestrian in the US. I guess I grew cocky and seemed to forget this rule as a driver just "didn't see me" in broad daylight coming to a stop at a stop sign. Thankfully this was at a stop sign so I was pretty much unscathed as it was low speed. Lady was alarmed and embarrassed. I now use extremely bright flashing lights at all times day and night.

@justingerald 2 жыл бұрын

I've been saying this since last week (from here in NYC): if you get in your car, you're always in more danger than being on the subway.

@realrobertdenby 2 жыл бұрын

I live in LA and the other day a 77 year old man was killed as he rode in a charity bike event in Griffith Park where the posted speed limit is 25 mph. I haven't heard how fast the drinking driver was going that killed him, but it was fast, and witnesses said the old man "never had a chance". The city's response was basically "yeah, we know Griffith park is dangerous (because people use it as a shortcut when I-5 is backed up) and it is on our list of things to fix". Literally, you could fix this problem by placing a few New Jersey barriers and blocking the through traffic in the park. It's frustrating that people keep dying in my city when the solutions are so obvious. I love your idea about speed governors. There is no compelling reason at all that a private and very fallible citizen should be allowed to drive at more than, say, 70 mph.

@blitzn00dle50 2 жыл бұрын

Yes very frustrating that LA chooses not to just put shit in the road to snag drunk drivers but I don't necessarily agree with speed governors on highways. Any speed above 25 is too fast for a street and any speed below 50 is too slow for a road. The reason to go faster than 70 miles per hour is me wanna get there in 30 minutes instead of 60. Freeways allow drivers to do this by separating other traffic types from the cars, protecting runaway cars from hazards and cutting off access

@AdamShingleton 2 жыл бұрын

I really respect your consistent use of the term 'traffic violence'.

@JaguarFiend 2 жыл бұрын

feels incredibly contrived and pretentious to me

@fluuufffffy1514 2 жыл бұрын

It is consistent, but I disagree with the usage. Not all 'bad thing happens suddenly' is violence, and calling it that waters down the concept of violence.

@JaguarFiend 2 жыл бұрын

@@fluuufffffy1514 Well put. I agree with this fully.

@JaguarFiend Жыл бұрын

@@MathGPT I will be a bit pedantic and say that, if you look it up, violence has a broad range of definitions and in CityNerd's defense his use of it wasn't technically wrong but I just find it to be disingenuous to use in that way when most peoples' inclination is that it refers to an intentional attack. Your view of it is too narrow and covers only some of the definition though. For instance animals can do violence to each other or to people but there's nothing "criminal" about that act.

@rapcorerocks Жыл бұрын

@@MathGPT The legal definition is flawed then because that means that what the police and military do aren't violent because they're a lawful organization. The general/colloquial definition is better.

@tachyon7179 2 жыл бұрын

Translating the "per year" death rate to about 100 deaths per day was, IMO, a much better way of presenting the ubiquitous lethality of car crashes that I hadn't thought of before. Good video

@georgeemil3618 2 жыл бұрын

There's a video in which Mikael Colville-Andersen claps his hands at a rate of once a second. And then he explains that each second somewhere in the world someone is struck and killed from an auto collision.

@peskypigeonx Жыл бұрын

@@georgeemil3618 that’s just morbid

@Sythemn 2 жыл бұрын

Yesterday I, on a motorcycle, had a car start coming into my lane. Truck infront of me, car behind me. Pressed the horn and held it until after about 2 additional seconds of coming into my lane, my horn blaring, he realized I was there. Accidents is 100% not what most of these should be called....

@DerrickJolicoeur 2 жыл бұрын

And "Mistakes" doesn't do it justice.

@agilemind6241 3 ай бұрын

@@DerrickJolicoeur I'd use "Negligence"

@lj2265 2 жыл бұрын

Here in Vancouver its very common in the downtown core for a speeder in a luxury car to jump the curb on to the sidewalk and kill a pedestrian. Its happened multiple times at one intersection, the latest one killing a child who was being carried by her father when they were both hit. The entire place needs to be made in to a pedestrian-only zone and drivers can be told to sit on the middle finger and twist if they're mad about it. Take the train.

@ronvandereerden4714 2 жыл бұрын

Thankfully downtown Vancouver's growing network of barrier-protected bike lanes is reducing that risk for everybody.

@AbsolutePixelMaster 2 жыл бұрын

I long for the day downtown Van finally goes car-free.

@qjtvaddict 2 жыл бұрын

@@AbsolutePixelMaster just takes a few more sky train lines

@carstarsarstenstesenn Жыл бұрын

I would love to see it pedestrian only but you might want to start with widening the sidewalks and making physical changes to slow drivers. It's not always about getting rid of cars, it's about making drivers slow down. Streets can be designed so that it's physically impossible to speed.

@mindstalk 10 ай бұрын

Many Mexico City intersections are full of bollards -- solid ones, not flexposts -- to protect the corners. If a death happens _once_ at an intersection they should be put in, let alone multiple times. Pedestrian-only is better but bollards should be a minimum intervention.

@conanhoye4556 2 жыл бұрын

CDC Code 10: "Looked but did not see" gives me heart palpitations. I ride a bike, and have been told "Sorry, I didn't see you" after a near death experience.

@agilemind6241 3 ай бұрын

I've only been cycling for 6 months but have already had a near-miss "did not see" incident despite wearing a bright yellow helmet, riding a yellow bicycle and wearing a hi-viz jacket at all times when cycling.

@athen-p 2 жыл бұрын

Perfect timing. Just yesterday I was lamenting WMATA's delayed re-introduction of the 7000 series trains, citing the redistribution of rail riders who won't tolerate 25 minute headways to less safe modalities as outweighing the benefits of their abundance of caution.

@adamcarlesco1650 2 жыл бұрын

The wait times are absurdly high for WMATA, the backbone of the US capital. But I'll still take it every opportunity I have because driving anywhere around the DC metro area is a fool's errand and ridiculously dangerous.

@AJ-sw8uf 2 жыл бұрын

It used to be so effective

@qjtvaddict 2 жыл бұрын

@@AJ-sw8uf they love to torment people

@MarloSoBalJr 2 жыл бұрын

People hate the wait times but don't mind involving themselves into a fatal derailment because IF they survive, they can sue Metro to oblivion. WMATA has gone downhill regarding upkeep but these measures are worth the delay to prevent the inevitable

@andrewlindstrom9599 2 жыл бұрын

If you want more bleak videos, I just finished reading "The Color of Law". I'm assuming you've already read it, but I would be interested to know which US Urban Freeways displaced the highest number of disadvantaged people upon construction (and subsequent expansions)

@ronniejanuszki 2 жыл бұрын

Great question. My first thought is Cincinnati, the West End, amongst many many others was totally demolished for I-75.

@adamcarlesco1650 2 жыл бұрын

I completely agree that this needs to be covered. Every city more or less has one of these highways.

@HYDRAdude 2 жыл бұрын

Why should anyone care?

@Cleanmybass 2 жыл бұрын

@@HYDRAdude because knowledge is power?

@adamcarlesco1650 2 жыл бұрын

@@HYDRAdude Because legal segregation and oppression are manifest in concrete that most people see as simply background.

@TheScourge007 2 жыл бұрын

From purely an advocacy standpoint this is the kind of data that I think cements the urgency of doing better the most. Yeah folks want better environments, and yeah if you actually introduce car free or car light areas everyone loves them (for instance in my city the hottest area to live in is along the beltline and from personal experience that area is ALWAYS packed), but really when it comes right down to it, it's impossible to argue with numbers like that.

@jacobkorducki6940 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for breaking down the data so well in this video. This has definitely been the case in Chicago of late, where "Danger on the L" seems to be in every headline, but driving fatalities are to be shrugged off. Even lately, the chance of you DYING in a car crash (roughly 1 in 10,000) on an annual basis are 10x higher than being INVOLVED in a crime on the L (1 in 100,000) after accounting for passenger counts, and most crimes people are involved in don't involve death. Doesn't mean it's not a problem to address but just funny how that gets all the attention while driving fatalities are brushed off as nothing we can solve.

@CityNerd 2 жыл бұрын

There's something deeper in human psychology I was trying to get at, but it's not really my wheelhouse. When you're in your own car, you feel like you're secure and in control of your own environment. When you're in an enclosed subway car with a bunch of strangers, you can imagine any number of terrible things happening and there's no escape. Your brain wants you to be in situations you control, even when that control is largely illusory. OK, that was no better. I do like your comment, though.

@SharienGaming 2 жыл бұрын

erm not to nitpick... but are you sure you got your numbers right? 1 in 10k is 10 times as often as 1 in 100k which would be the opposite of what you said there

@mariusvanc 2 жыл бұрын

@@CityNerd That's exactly it. And it makes sense; if you're subject to some rare occurence (1:10,000 or 1:100,000), the majority of the time you're fine, so you want to feel comfortable and in control. There are many places where people are not so willing to give up freedom for safety.

@peskypigeonx Жыл бұрын

the actual death rate on subways is probably even lower considering far evaders

@danielmrtns Жыл бұрын

@@CityNerd But let’s be honest about the elephant in the room: it requires some thinking to understand the truth vs. how our brain likes to trick us, right? So, is it fair to say that this is a problem of stupidity? Is it fair to make a blanket statement that some people can think fairly well, while others are just not smart enough, and the two groups gravitate towards the opposite end of the spectrum on the transportation debate? And the low-brain-power ones are probably the most likely to get influenced by how the media operates? Is there a more elegant way for me to say that this is a smart vs. dumb sort of conversation?

@ThisIsCarlo 2 жыл бұрын

In Toronto, there has been heavy news coverage lately regarding transit safety. This last week, we had a story regarding a lady being pushed into the subway tracks. As unfortunate as that incident is, the media here definitely took it to another level. When a car here kills a cyclist or a pedestrian, it does get some news coverage, but certainly not to the same amount as transit incidents. You're a traffic engineer, so I'm sure you can look up Toronto data yourself. But here's the spoiler: the amount of deaths, or even injuries, that occur within our transit system is no where to the same level that cars inflict on pedestrians/cyclists in this city. I really appreciate the work you've done here to highlight the heavy media bias and compare it with hard stats. Your timing seriously could not have been any better. Obviously, transit safety is still a concern, but I really do think that we're missing the big picture - which is that car-centric urban infrastructure literally kills.

@Physicalchemistry15151 2 жыл бұрын

Toronto doesn’t strike me as car centric. Canadian cities are ver similar to Australian cities on about every level and although they are automobile heavy. transit infrastructure is definitely viewed as important, compared to American cities which are not only very car centric but also ridden with crime and shootings that walking isn’t any safer than driving

@jan-lukas 2 жыл бұрын

A perfect opportunity to invest in transit and add platform screen doors... Or just deem transit as "unsafe"

@Amir-jn5mo 2 жыл бұрын

this. So many people i talked to mentioned that subway is scary now while also saying they commute 2hrs to get to work everyday while dosing off in the car like wtf??

@carstarsarstenstesenn Жыл бұрын

@@Physicalchemistry151511. Toronto is very car centric. 2. In the U.S. every city is different. Not every city crime ridden like you make it seem and when in crime ridden cities, not every neighborhood is dangerous. I've been walking and biking in Chicago for over 20 years, never owned a car. But I don't walk around in the hood. I walk where it's safe and watch my back just like I would anywhere else. Never had a problem except for one time when I was hanging with the wrong people.

@jennifertomaiolo Жыл бұрын

This is a big thing in NYC now too. As a dedicated transit rider and someone who was run over by a car walking home from work one day - it makes me furious that the media is scaring even more people out of transit and into cars.

@zalafinari 2 жыл бұрын

I found the video entergaging. You got a like. Telling me to not daydream is to tell me to not be conscious. It can happen involuntarily, even in the middle of a serious one-on-one conversation.

@CityNerd 2 жыл бұрын

Install the anti-daydreaming wetware update on your brain when you get a minute. Free download

@timdowney6721 2 жыл бұрын

Exactly. We have very little control, if any, of what pops into our conscious minds moment to moment.

@Hyperventilacion 2 жыл бұрын

Great video, as a Mexican it didn't surprise me a bit to see us there, we as a country and the US share a pathological fascination of cars and violence, awful combination, roadrage in Mexico is just another thing, if often devolves into motorized murder I guess. As a personal note, besides that one time someone literally attempted to murder me, my closest experiences with death have been as a pedestrian in Mexico, I've been almost ran over around 20 times, and I was riding an intercity bus when the driver killed a cyclist. Although I survived and now live in Canada's walkable city some of my acquaintances didn't make it.

@michaelnajera7958 2 жыл бұрын

Yeah, I’ve seen the road rage there and it’s not good. Even so, the US is still worse at traffic deaths according to the data.

@CityNerd 2 жыл бұрын

Sorry to hear about all your close calls. Parts of Mexico are pretty tough for road safety!

@MrMartinSchou 2 жыл бұрын

As someone who basically only knows stereotypical things of Mexico, I don't think it's a country that the US wants to be on par with in pretty much anything. The US should want to be on par with places like Canada - not that Canada does all that well compared to western European countries, but it's a massive step up from the US and Mexico.

@fszocelotl 2 жыл бұрын

Even without taking into account the gun related violence down here, the recklessness of all drivers is just overwhelming... As a rule of thumb for most drivers anything smaller than their own vehicle is invisible and fair game... And that is not a cultural trait that anyone should aspire to.

@Hyperventilacion 2 жыл бұрын

@@MrMartinSchou Well, our countries are connected and the worst aspects of Mexico and the US are interconnected, which is gun violence and drug-related crime, we are going to share a lot of bad stuff for a long time due to that, and that reckless violence compounded with fucked up motorphilia and weird class dynamics are part of the mix that we share and make our countries so unsafe for transit. Having lived in all three countries, I can say that Canada benefits a lot from having less population, which makes things easier to manage, not being in the midst of drug routes, and less hierarchical class dynamics, however it still needs a lot of work regarding public transit, there we all should learn from European countries.

@matthewlewis5806 2 жыл бұрын

Speed Governors/limiters could potentially become a legal requirement in new cars in the EU and potentially here in the UK. The comparisons on with e-bikes and scooters is very apt.

@CityNerd 2 жыл бұрын

I know, I've been reading about it! I might make a video just on that topic.

@stevelewis7501 2 жыл бұрын

@@CityNerd please do!

@michdem100 2 жыл бұрын

As much as I hope to, it seams those won't be the kind of limiters that e-bikes or scooters have. Looks like all those "limiters" would do in cars is make a noise. Which is a shame really. It might have been okay if after a few seconds of making the noise car would just turn the engine of and slam the brakes until it does a full stop. But we can't have that. Apparently bikes are more dangerous then cars it seams looking at those limiters

@beckobert 2 жыл бұрын

As a German I am very much afraid that the German government will do everything it can to prevent that. They can't even get a legal speed limit on highways (despite public support), so getting an actual speed limit in cars feels unimaginable.

@SharienGaming 2 жыл бұрын

@@michdem100 turning off the engine at high speed and slamming the brakes is a recipe for an immediate crash if there is anything approaching from behind - so no that would absolutely not be okay similar issues can arise if you do some sort of grace period for exceeding the limiter to overtake a vehicle if you do hard limiting like that, it needs to be consistently applied...anything else will cause problems when the behaviour of the vehicle suddenly changes at high speeds

@ThomasGeist Жыл бұрын

Wow! This video finally confirms what’s always been my gut feeling. In the 15 years of living in the USA I’ve seen way more terrifying crashes than in the 40+ years I lived in Germany. Flipped over cars, blown tires, dropped freight (whole couches on the road), aggressive driving with constant tailgating and cutting off and blowing through red lights - even though Germany’s traffic has a bad reputation, it’s totally mellow and regulated compared to here in North Carolina. And we’re not even New York … The fatality rates (12 point something versus 4 point something) say it all. Oh, wait! And cell phones. Don’t even get me started on cell phones.

@FunkBison 2 жыл бұрын

Could you do a "safest" and "unsafest" cities in the US based on traffic fatalities? Might be one where using city limits rather than metros is actually the better metric since it would judge the walkability of the urban core.

@MarloSoBalJr 2 жыл бұрын

Baltimore & Washington, DC would be your Top 5 right off the back

@jaredlash5002 2 жыл бұрын

The older I get, the less I want to drive, and the less I want to be on or near a roadway.

@lj2265 2 жыл бұрын

My dream is to live in one of those places where people go around in little golf carts lol Thats the closest I want to be to something resembling a car these days

@CityNerd 2 жыл бұрын

That's my trajectory

@ronvandereerden4714 2 жыл бұрын

I have actually seen "pedestrian loss of control". Thankfully he avoided a nasty fatality by centimetres. (Of course it should not be punishable by death.) An older guy with a heavy backpack walking out of a parking lot 3 metres from the road tripped on the uneven sidewalk edge. He might have just fallen but his reflex to right himself with the pack on his back literally launched him more than 3 metres and over the curb in an involuntary sprint. He fell half into the street in front of a car racing down the curb lane. It was amazing to see the fast reaction of the driver in a skidding stop. The guy's head was under the front end maybe 10 centimetres from the tire. We really need fewer places where the road is so close to the sidewalk and reduced speed limits where it can't reasonably be avoided.

@xaphon89 2 жыл бұрын

I have often remarked how the moment ebikes started becoming popular, legislators the world over reeled. "My god, we've got to stop these things from going too fast! Somebody could get hurt!" And then they'll approve some gargantuan highway expansion the same day. It's like a satire of itself, like a joke you'd expect to see on a show like The Simpsons.

@PlatypusBillDuck 2 жыл бұрын

Great video. Now I can pre-fill my insurance forms for when I get distracted deciding what to eat for lunch, trip over an uneven sidewalk, and get fatally flattened by an icecream truck.

@CityNerd 2 жыл бұрын

I mean the reason they include ice cream truck is because kids probably literally get hit running across a street when they hear the music. I mean if this was 1973 anyway

@harktischris 2 жыл бұрын

We have a sprawling local political fight over trying to make our nearby stroad safer, and there are so many people fighting against even incremental changes, despite the fact that it's well-documented that it's recklessly dangerous for all users of that stroad. 10:00 "They think they're in control of their own destiny and the averages don't apply to them" sums up that do-nothing, I-don't-care attitude so well.

@linuxman7777 2 жыл бұрын

Other countries have figured out how to keep automobile deaths down, and it is to design better streets and roads, and not count on people to change their behavior. We need no new stroads, we need slow safe streets where drivers feel uncomfortable and if they get angry from the discomfort, they won't be moving fast enough to kill eachother and pedestrians. We also need fast, forgiving, direction separated roads, where the drivers don't have to think about driving, they can be relaxed and not have to worry about pedestrians, cyclists, or oncoming traffic

@aeugenegray 2 жыл бұрын

Kind of scary, I don't know anyone who has died in a car accident. I'd be looking over my shoulder but I ride public transit. Easily a 7k a year savings just from the payment and insurance.

@PhiloFery 2 жыл бұрын

You’re lucky. For me it’s at the point where when I see somebody has died or somebody tells me, I guess “car accident?” And I’m usually right.

@aeugenegray 2 жыл бұрын

@@PhiloFery I don't fuck with Facebook either, so that might me a reason

@chrisjohnson7929 2 жыл бұрын

I'll have to say this. When people point to an instance like the subway shooting and say that they would be safer in a car, try looking into how many freeway shootings there are each year. They are far more common than you'd believe.

@ashchowdhury2895 2 жыл бұрын

Great video! One thing I would add, the driving test and education in the US is shockingly easy by comparison to other developed nations. I did my first test in the UK and it was a massive time and cost investment to get through it, with the average person failing the test twice before passing. It would be great to see a video comparing driver education standards between different countries. Motorcycle tests were even worse!!

@lizcademy4809 Жыл бұрын

Many years ago I moved from California to Maryland. For good reasons (at the time) I didn't transfer my driver's license in time, so I had to take the full driving test again, both paper and behind the wheel. [I had been driving for 15 years at that point.] The paper test was typical. The "road" test .... My husband took my car from the parking spot to the test start. The examiner and I got in and I drove to the DMV driveway. There was a traffic light for me to cross into a large, completely empty lot. I drove forward a couple hundred yards, backwards 50. I turned left, then right. I put my headlights on, turned them off. I was then directed to drive back across the street into the DMV parking lot and park my car. That was the entire test. When I took my driving test in California, I was surprised it was all done on quiet residential roads, plus a couple blocks on a stroad. It should have included freeway driving, much more stroad-work, hill parking ... But compared to what I needed to o in Maryland... no wonder the drivers in the Washington DC area were so bad.

@ericd403 2 жыл бұрын

This video made me realize that we REALLY need to start rallying behind speed governors in all vehicles. I don’t know why we’ve been sleeping on this idea. The impact would be far reaching

@jamesphillips2285 2 жыл бұрын

I think most vehicles do have speed governors: about 160km/h or 100MPH. Maybe they are just power-limited by that speed.

@roelsch 2 жыл бұрын

“Pedestrian loss of control” - I guess that is known to laymen as ‘stumbling’.

@SmellyBones 2 жыл бұрын

Could maybe also refer to when you get boogie fever and dance your ass off?

@Qaaxxx 2 жыл бұрын

Yes to Roadway classification! If you could include Canada that would be great.

@CityNerd 2 жыл бұрын

Oh interesting -- comparing and contrasting, also with something like Netherlands would be super interesting.

@omnibot5848 2 жыл бұрын

"Nobody's dying in a pedestrian on pedestrian collision." Picturing how mundane and harmless a pedestrian-on-pedestrian collision would be both made me chuckle and made me sad about the priorities of NA infrastructure.

@ruta1133 2 жыл бұрын

I've been almost hit by cars most often when trying to catch a bus in a stroad setting. I briefly worked at city hall in Toronto and in that short time, I realised this is actually very common. Cars are a danger to basically everyone that's near them. I now work in the healthcare industry and there are a large volume of people in their 60s that complain of pain in their neck etc. due to a fender benders in their 20s and 30s. Almost makes me happy that I've been too perpetually poor to even get behind the wheel. I think I shall avoid getting a car as long as I am able.

@jeemon01 2 жыл бұрын

I commute by bicycle on a quiet off street path with no cars, co-workers are always telling me to be careful out there. I should be telling them it's more dangerous to drive!😇

@simoneh4732 2 жыл бұрын

I appreciate periodic data driven education videos like this one (and the traffic is exponential video). I wouldn't know where to begin with digging through this data, so being served a digested version is really helpful. Thanks!

@CityNerd 2 жыл бұрын

You're the target customer

@iamweave 2 жыл бұрын

Video idea: Zoning differences between US and Europe and other countries. Just learned that in a lot of europe zoning focuses more on what a building looks like, not its function. So you have a lot more mixed uses. Like it's perfectly fine to open a small convenience store in a house on the corner whereas US it's more exclusive. Many areas in US won't allow mixed commercial and residential for example. Heaven forbid you build housing on top of a strip shopping center --- even though the parking issue is spread out. Most spots taken during the day by shoppers, then the residents come home and park for the night -- hence no long hours of wasted empty parking spots.

@Magnulus76 6 ай бұрын

I really appreciate your coverage of this topic. Most Americans are truely clueless about how dangerous their roads are compared to other developed nations.

@steven.l.patterson 2 жыл бұрын

Great topic. Most of the time when I actually leave home I’m a pedestrian/transit user. But once every week or two I drive our car for an errand. It has smart cruise control, aka adaptive cruise control. I turn it on right after starting the car, set it as soon as I hit 20mph (minimum to set it). It keeps me a safe distance from the car ahead, will slow/stop if necessary. It can detect a cyclist or motorcycle, but not a person running into traffic (it’s a 2015 model). I typically set it to the speed limit, though we have a few roads in the St. Louis area I don’t feel comfortable doing the limit. I get passed often on arterials, interstates. Our built in navigation system and Apple CarPlay both know the speed limit, even where it changes. What I’d like to see is a system so smart it limits the set speed to the posted speed limit…and adjusts automatically when it goes from say 35mph to 30 mph.

@uzjenompajicek2023 2 жыл бұрын

You should watch a video about how the speed limit is set 😄

@traveller23e 2 жыл бұрын

You know, it really stuck me in your video of stroad-stroad intersections when you showed the picture of the instructions for the cross walk light. It said that the little green walking man meant "Cross, watching for traffic". Yet somehow that's supposed to provide pedestrians a safe point to cross where vehicles won't be driving straight into them, so why do they have to watch out? It's weird how it seems the expectation is that drivers can just assume there's nothing except vehicles on the road. I live in Italy right in the middle of a city of 300.000. The expectation here (as in most places in Italy) is that as a driver you always have to watch out for things other than cars. We have points where there are intersections between pedestrian-only streets and busy roads. You just walk into the road and cross behind the first car. On a lot of roads there are cars, scooters, mopeds, electric bikes, the other kind of scooters all as mixed traffic. In most parts of town, if I feel like walking in the middle of the road, I do. Sure, there's a sidewalk, but if there's a vehicle that needs to get through and there's not space I can always move. It's not a world for cars. It's a world for people. And I'm grateful for it.

@Staindsoul4life Жыл бұрын

Video on roadway functional classification, please! I'd really like to see the correlations within this video and roadway functional classification. Btw: binging on CityNerd vids right meow. Brilliant video: The final bit on pedestrian "fault" codes (e.g. distracted while eating/drinking, daydreaming, etc.) was disheartening, mildly amusing and completely infuriating they even exists. Thanks for the content.

@bagenstb 2 жыл бұрын

I very much agree that Americans feel safer in cars because we think we are in control there. Of course the data shows differently, but we feel it, so it must be true, right? On a more serious note, thanks for sharing your data sources and defending your thoughts with actual facts. Keep up the good work with these videos!

@PedanticNo1 2 жыл бұрын

This is almost a direct parallel of how people evaluate the risk of nuclear power vs fossil fuels.

@williamhuang8309 2 жыл бұрын

Nuclear power is very safe normally, but when things go wrong (very rare) they will go really bad. Fossil fuels aren't that safe normally (air pollution) but accidents are extremely rare. So people will pick out a few nuclear incidents completely ignoring how they are safe when operating correctly with well-trained staff and the people will keep regurgitating that incident as if it happens every day.

@VitalVampyr 2 жыл бұрын

@@williamhuang8309 Actually the "really bad" case only happened once (Chernobyl) and that was due to many flaws in design and procedure that were obvious to most nuclear engineers even before the accident. People's perception of the other two nuclear containment breaches tend to be far beyond the actual damage done. Also fossil fuel accidents aren't rare. It's actually fairly common that people get hurt or killed while working at oil wells or coal mines.

@williamhuang8309 2 жыл бұрын

@@VitalVampyr Yup. Too many people get killed at oil refineries and drilling rigs due to negligent safety (just watch some CSB videos)

@TheSaabiinee 2 жыл бұрын

12:45 my mother is a police officer and she once came across a fatal pedestrian-on-pedestrian collision. 2 elderly people ran into each other and one fell badly, broke his hip and actually died

@tim333y7 2 жыл бұрын

Exceptions prove the rule

@mackereltabbie 2 жыл бұрын

Driving while sleep deprived increases the risk, and sleep deprivation is very common. Being able to use public transport to get to work would help a lot

@ThurstonCyclist 2 жыл бұрын

When you drive a car, that is the most dangerous thing you'll do that day.

@SquareJerHertz 2 жыл бұрын

"...the illusion of self-determination." wise words

@erinm113 2 жыл бұрын

This is one of my favorite videos you've made, if not my favorite. A really important topic that people don't want to hear about "because driving is a fact of life". I love the point about everyone thinking they are an above average driver. I literally laugh when I hear someone say that; I've heard it too many times. I'm going to keep rewatching/ commenting/ sharing this video because it should be the most watched video on this channel. Let's go yt algorithm.

@t.a.k.palfrey3882 2 жыл бұрын

I lived in the US for six years, and have visited over 30 times over the past 65 years. Indeed, US road (and rail, canal, and airport) infrastructure is terrible, but I saw and continue to regard two other issues as even more impactful on the country's aweful road accident record. These are the ease with which drivers' licenses are given, and the absence of regular roadworthy testing of automobiles. I suggest over half of US drivers under 25 would fail a driving test anywhere in Europe. Certainly, a large proportion of the private vehicles over three years old which I have seen on US roads, would fail any EU, UK, or Canadian vehicle test.

@arferbargel 2 жыл бұрын

While testing drivers' skills more than once in their lives and making a license harder to acquire in the first place would undoubtedly reduce the number of licensed bad drivers, it's unlikely ever to happen, because the ability to drive is practically sacrosanct in car-centric cultures.

@t.a.k.palfrey3882 2 жыл бұрын

@@arferbargel Well, in most western European countries, the test is far, far harder than in the US. I know as I took a test at 17 in Europe and tested again in VA when I was in my 40s. Also, after 75, drivers in Europe have to have a fresh eyesight test and after 80 a doctor's certificate of health. The bigger issue is the testing of vehicles for road worthiness after being three years old, and annually thereafter. In most Canadian provinces, if selling a used car, it must first be inspected by a govt inspection centre, and any necessary repairs carried out to the satisfaction of the inspector. All of these countries have high car dependency. It is just that the US seems so anti regulation that it would prefer to see higher rates of road deaths and injuries than get rust buckets off the road.

@Victor-tl4dk 2 жыл бұрын

5:40 this is actually an interesting statistic. In Poland cars are overall older and less safe. They have a lower death rate than the United States (Poland has 7.7 fatalities per 100k.) At the same time they have great public transportation so they can actually afford to not to give out licenses like candy and train drivers. They enjoy standard rural divided highway speeds of 87mph (140 km/hr) and still have death rates much lower than the US! They also have a bit less funding in general and like I said, cars that on average are much older and less safe. This video explains why we free Americans have embarrassingly slow speed limits usually at 70mph on our divided rural highways. It's not speed that kills (although it does usually make crashes more deadly), but cars and forcing everyone into cars.

@gregvassilakos 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you for offering me further motivation to get Greek citizenship so I can move to the EU. Not that it matters, but the annual number of gun-related deaths in the United States is similar to the annual number of traffic related deaths. I suppose some comfort can be taken from the fact that about half of all gun-related deaths are suicides. Like traffic deaths, suicides by gunshot don't get much media attention.

@CityNerd 2 жыл бұрын

I thought about drawing attention to that when I was going over the CDC data...but this video was plenty long and plenty dark

@EvanEscher 2 жыл бұрын

I remember when I was in college a student biking was killed by a drunk driver. As someone that biked around almost everywhere in college (and still do today), I couldn't help but think that that could have been me. Thankfully it hasn't--yet.

@erickchavez8469 Жыл бұрын

One semester in my school we had 3 deaths from drunk drivers. They put speed bumps now.

@brandonloesch4986 2 жыл бұрын

Great video. We really should be outraged over car deaths in the country

@stuarthirsch 2 жыл бұрын

I am a gun owner. It's amazing how few people are killed in gun accidents, not counting gun homicides and suicides. However most legitimate gun owners know how dangerous guns are and practice gun safety. Yet we are more focused on gun owners than rogue drivers.

@derrick5130 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you for digging into the data. One of my favourite KZfaq channels :)

@lakaiguy1993 2 жыл бұрын

How do we (America) get our politicians to make ACTUAL safety improvements for pedestrians and non-moter vehicles? - Zoning changes to limit car dependence - multi modal infrastructure - lane narrowing - safer intersections

@Imman1s 2 жыл бұрын

Make a constitutional amendment forcing your politicians to have the exact same duties and privileges as the rest of the population and those problems will go away over night. Probably you will need to wait a little bit until they fix healthcare system and gun violence issues first, but it will be worth it. I have the feeling that even the drivers and secret service will gladly give up their jobs if it means fixing the ** country.

@linuxman7777 2 жыл бұрын

We should make efforts to keep pedestrians and motor vehicles separate from eachother as well, except on the narrowest of streets.

@Weasels42 2 жыл бұрын

Count me in for the video on roadway classification. A somber video, but an important topic

@keff5984 2 жыл бұрын

Great video. I drive almost every day. Getting into my car to go to work or the store is the most dangerous thing I do by far. Honestly I'm convinced my life will end in a car crash. It is scary. There are some idiots out there. I also live on a service road where there are no sidewalks, no streetlights, no shoulder, and people will fly down that road. Also on this road (aside from me who is too scared to walk my dog on it) is multiple nursing homes and nurses/CNAs are walking up and down this road to get to work from a nearby bus stop. I'm surprised nobody has died there since I've been here. I contacted my assemblyperson and they don't seem to care much. Also want to say your video on SUVs and pickups getting larger and larger has really stuck with me. An acquaintance who I know has no use for a pickup and doesn't haul anything just got one. Can't say I don't judge him for it. Now whenever I'm in a parking lot walking by these lifted massive pickups (tons in my area) I can't help but notice how the grill comes up to my neck, and I'm 6 feet tall. It's scary to see. Scary to be a pedestrian, and even scary to be in my little hatchback

@bryanCJC2105 2 жыл бұрын

I haven't driven in 25 years and take the bus or train everywhere in the city (granted that in Chicago, that's easy). When I hear people complain about violence on the subways, it frustrates me because, while there is, it's nothing near the violence on the roads. I feel much safer on the bus than I do in a car. It's really disturbing that the data you presented is biased in how it assigns blame to drivers verses pedestrians (and I assume bicyclists also). It's as if any outside factor negates a drivers' lack of competence, carelessness, purposeful distraction (such as texting), etc and how the law only punitively doles out punishment for that, mainly in the form of a fine only. It is a symptom of how politically volatile the issue of demoting cars as kings of the road is. Everyone in a car thinks they have primacy over the way the right of way is used. Woe be the one who lowers a speed limit on a stroad. Woe be the one who takes away any street parking for better transit. Woe be the one who suggests taking a lane of freeway for other usage rather than adding a lane. I have been impressed how in, I believe Norway, fines are based on a % of income versus a flat rate. A speeding infraction may be 0.02% of an annual wage. A wealthy person speeding may pay $3,000 in a fine versus a poor person paying $100 for the same infraction. Speaking of Mexico, you haven't seen a speed bump until you've driven in Mexico. When approaching a town, most have a series of speed bumps to slow you down and they are signed. If you hit one of those speed bumps at speed, and by that I mean anything over a crawl, they will destroy your car. You have to slow down and ease your car over that killer hump. Good idea though. There is also the issue of road rage getting out of control. How many car fender benders, or even someone cutting you off, turn into violence because we're a nation of man-boys who think screaming, threatening, or pointing a gun at the other driver is the way to resolve the issue?

@MorganGale Жыл бұрын

When I was learning how to drive as a teenager, I was so terrified of being in an accident that I'd have panic attacks in the driver's seat. I remember asking my driver's ed instructor how to overcome this fear, and she looked at me in complete confusion and told me she'd never had a student who was scared of driving before. I think that says a lot about our collective psychology.

@SofaKingShit 2 жыл бұрын

Fall asleep coming home from the bar on a train and you might miss your stop of get your wallet picked but fall asleep driving home from the bar and it's often a somewhat life changing event for all those involved. Now that I'm older and wiser and know these things l stay stay home and write comments if I'm drinking or high, so l mostly just stay home and write comments.

@Imminentslug Жыл бұрын

What makes me angry is lack of options for those who can't drive. Elderly, disabled, anxiety disorders, vision, etc... Like what are they supposed to do! I live in a car dependent metro, got hit head on by a driver passed out from diabetic shock going the other way, 60 mph. Car was totaled. Luckily my dad had a 20 yo beater that somehow still ran, but if he didn't let me borrow it until my insurance came through for a new car months later, idk how I would have gotten around. And still I honestly had some slight PTSD from the accident and driving gave me the shakes. It really opened my eyes to the population here with no cars. It seems impossible. Studies show the elderly are way more independent and have a higher quality of life in walkable places than stuck in a car dependent nursing home. I mean everyone's quality of life would improve, but I think it's understated how much it opens up the world for the elderly, who can maintain much more autonomous lifestyle. Also I have several friends who are too scared/anxious to drive, didn't get their license until their mid-20s. Heck, my family made fun of me for being to nervous to get mine until I was 18! And I think even those people are valid, this video shows that those anxieties arent unfounded!!

@davitron86 Жыл бұрын

Catching up on old videos and I really appreciate this one. You can really apply these same principals to the way other dangers are reported on.

@malcolmking752 2 жыл бұрын

Excellent video. thank you for helping me to understand the true scale of this issue.

@SpaceyGracie_ Жыл бұрын

So I'm newer to your channel and I've been going back through your older videos. Though I've been enjoying them all, this is my favorite so far after seeing a couple dozen. Thanks, for this one and all the time you spend making these videos.

@evanegley8696 2 жыл бұрын

Brilliant video. Love the idea of governing vehicle speed, but can you imagine the freedumb folks arguing against that one? There are people I know that would call for civil war if they weren't able to do 55 in a 40.

@linuxman7777 2 жыл бұрын

There should really not be any stroads between 30 and 60mph Those places must decide if they want to be a slow street or a fast road if we want to make our transport system safer.

@CityNerd 2 жыл бұрын

Oh I know. But what if I wanna go 150mph on my e-scooter? Where are the freedom-lovers then, riddle me that!!

@olster9887 2 жыл бұрын

I get that geographically-specific speed governing won't be popular amongst the 'freedumb folks' but I really can't understand why this doesn't get talked about at all, even in more enlightened circles. I feel like speed governing is a bit of a no brainer but this video is literally the first time I've ever heard anyone other than myself talk about it!

@brokenrecord3095 2 жыл бұрын

@@olster9887 well given that new cars are only ever a tiny fraction of the cars of the road, if speed governors are introduced we're going to end up with a few cars travelling at dramatically different speeds to the flow of traffic, I can't see how that works out as being a huge plus. seems to me a better solution is better roadway design to encourage more appropriate speed. that and less cars in general.

@Mrcake0103 2 жыл бұрын

Speaking as someone studying IT, the geographic speed governor proposal is rife with security and enforcement issues. For the system to work, the car has to receive a signal and throttle its speed based on that signal. How would you stop someone from impersonating that signal? A terrorist could walk up to a highway, point a modified wi-fi router at the road, and with the click of a button cause several cars to slam on the brakes, which could potentially cause a fatal pile-up that grinds traffic to a halt for hours. Such an attack could be done by an adversary such that an entire city wakes up one morning with cars that refuse to exceed 5 MPH. Crippling the enemy economy does wonders during wartime...and that’s just assuming we give this system control over the throttle. Also, what’s to stop someone from just disabling this system? Maybe you could make the car not work if the system thinks it’s been tampered with, but doing so introduces the possibility of bricking a car. And if any security vulnerabilities are discovered, someone may very well brick someone else’s car, possibly while they are driving it.

@samkuzel 2 жыл бұрын

I really appreciate what you do Ray, this is stuff that really needs to be talked about. I was thinking about this exact topic while I was taking a walk yesterday in what should (theoretically) be a particularly walkable urban environment.

@jamalgibson8139 Жыл бұрын

This is seriously one of the best videos you've made. Thank you for all the work you do making these videos, and I wish you continued success in these endeavors!

@johnmitchell8925 11 ай бұрын

I just found your channel a few days ago and I've been binge watching ever since. Thanks for taking the time to produce all this wonderful content 😉

@fszocelotl 2 жыл бұрын

This really point out the main issue with motor vehicles. As pointed out, car culture is a big reason of car related deaths and accidents, but also driving awareness. Down here, even as we have a similar statistic in road violence deaths, we have a way higher percentage of public transportation users of the total population, so why is there that the statistics are so high related to Europe? In Europe, public transportation is based on rail based systems and better street design, over here in North America, transportation is based in rubber wheeled vehicles. That means that lack of better street design and insufficient driver culture and acknowledging of road safety are the main drivers of the lack of driving safety both in the US and Mexico. Difference is that in the US it relates more to particular car crashes and down here relates more with recklessness of public transportation drivers... We have to be aware about how much road accidents are reported in the media around us and relate it to the statistics shown. Thanks for exposing the reality as it is. Hope we can develop better driver awareness and better public space design because of the visibility of videos as this. I won't give you punctual details about public transportation accidents, just this link: kzfaq.info?search_query=mexico+bus+accident

@TheTaxGeek 2 жыл бұрын

The major problem is how we perceive the scale of risk. If we had a single tragedy that killed 30,000 people, say a terrorist action in a football stadium, it would be the news story of the century, if not of all time. Even if we have a tragic event that kills 100, it would still make worldwide news. But about 100 people die in traffic accidents each DAY, and 30,000 per year. But these events are scattered throughout the country, and sometimes never made the news at all, unless it involves multiple fatalities, or (God forbid) ties up a lot of traffic. And because they see so little attention, and accidents involving public transportation see quite a lot, people highly overassess the risk of using public transportation, and under assess the risk of driving. And I think one of the reasons for the recent uptick in highway fatalities is that cars have gotten safer and humans have not.

@UserName-ts3sp 2 жыл бұрын

traffic accidents are common. its not really national news if billy joe from alabama rams into a deer on back holler rd.

@gwarlow 2 жыл бұрын

The calmest delivery I have ever seen, of troublesome vehicle violence statistics. ;-) Thanks for sharing. Cheers.

@VoxelLoop 2 жыл бұрын

What I find so interesting is that the UK (My country!) is so low on fatalities considering our road network. We drive on a lot of 60mph narrow roads where you're squeezing between hedges and other cars at high speeds. Yet somehow, we're drastically safer than the US with massive wide roads with lower speed limits in a lot of places. Of course, big straight road with a traffic light at the end of it is asking for t-bones and rear ends, but aside from that, US driving education seems very poor in general. We don't really learn much road theory in the UK, you get a simple multi-choice question essentially, followed up by a 'Hazard perception test', which is essentially a dashcam video and you need to click on potential hazards such as a kid about to cross the road, a kids ball falling in the road (Expect the kid to follow), a cyclist, a car approaching an intersection where it might not stop, etc. The rest? It's all driving a car on public roads with a driving instructor, I believe we need to haev 20 hours of driving on public roads before taking the driving test. In this time we have to learn how to perform an emergency stop too and actually do one, or multiple of them. We can also fail the driving test on interesting things like unsmooth gear changes as we have a 'full license' which is required to be taken in a manual, versus an 'automatics license' for automatics only. (Driving just about anything but a car, including towing anything, is another license) Overall, I would say most British drivers are pretty good. We're ironically known as being the fast drivers who drive like we're race car drivers, but I think it worksd out somehow. :)

@keiranfoster12 2 жыл бұрын

Agreed. I think UK drivers are pretty good. There's a lot of hazards generally so people are prepared. Narrow terraced roads with lots of parked cars. Lots of pedestrian and cycling activity in some cities. In rural roads there are often lots of bends, narrow lanes at points, obstacles (sheep, cows, roadworks, horses). You're trained to spot hazards and the precursors so you can ease off the pace a bit. If you're not sensible, you will crash and lose your license. Testing is one element. Also I think the road design is there also. If there are accidents in a certain place, there are speed cameras put in or traffic calming or speed bumps on residential streets. One place introduced a footbridge after an accident too. We also have lots of roundabouts which are generally more efficient than US excessive traffic lights. And if there are collisions they're usually at non lethal speeds. Compare this to America where people expect to drive everywhere at high speed, the roads are as oversized as the people. The traffic lights are overloaded with vehicles and you may have to wait 3+ minutes for a cycle. People are trained to go fast and any obstacle or delay is seem as something to get angry about. Plus they're in an oversized overpowered tank. Which makes the traffic that they're trying race and beat. It's ghastly on so many levels. But it's the reflection of a psycopathically violent self-centred culture in America. Until they have an attitude adjustment - they're going to keep self harming and creating more of the same self perpetuating crapola. Anyway whinge over

@donovancamp1336 2 жыл бұрын

Would love a video on Roadway functional classification!

@JamesTsividis Жыл бұрын

Thanks for sharing what you know on this. It helps a lot to put things in perspective!

@stickynorth 2 жыл бұрын

For every dramatic transit or aircraft event there are dozens if not hundreds of everyday car-related deaths and I wish more people knew that so thank you for doing your part in breaking down the myths around transit and safety! Keep on keepin' on! Peace and love from Canada!

@Sho-td8wg 2 жыл бұрын

I'm kinda surprised that recurring training (every 2-5 years?) isn't a part of renewing drivers licenses. It is in many other vehicle licensing (aviation for example).

@CityNerd 2 жыл бұрын

Too much effort. Besides, whose brain doesn't work exactly the same at 42 as it did at 16? Waste of taxpayer money

@colormedubious4747 2 жыл бұрын

Not strictly true. All pilots have a recurring medical exam requirement (every 2 years). Private pilots must also maintain currency. Commercial pilots generally have type refresher-training requirements. Each airline has its own rules. YMMV.

@Sho-td8wg 2 жыл бұрын

@@colormedubious4747 I'm a private pilot. We do a "flight review" every 2 years covering regs and certain skills.

@Sho-td8wg 2 жыл бұрын

@@CityNerd do it the American way. Have insurance companies "voluntarily" pick it up to shift their actuarial tables one way or another.

@colormedubious4747 2 жыл бұрын

@@Sho-td8wg But is that an FAA thing or an FBO thing? My old FBO had a similar requirement in order to rent aircraft from them. Their rules were more strict than the FAA's

@johanna7254 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for this one. I’m definitely on high alert every time I drive or walk anywhere near a road, ever since my cousin was killed on his motorcycle years ago. It’s amazing what can happen at any moment.

@katherinenessel1218 2 жыл бұрын

This is such a wonderfully made and argued video. I will be sharing widely with loved ones so they can better understand traffic violence!

@kierannelson2581 2 жыл бұрын

Excellent video. Thanks for making!

@ggelatinn Жыл бұрын

Would love a video that talks about crashes and traffic fatality differentials between stroads, normal city streets, city streets with traffic calming infrastructure, grade-separated highways, parking lots, and any other classes of driveable facilities you deem relevant. Love the channel, keep up the great work!

@manzell 2 жыл бұрын

When I worked in NY, we tried to install (voluntarily) advanced vehicle trackers with accelerometers and direct access to the vehicle "black box" data. The idea is that we'd be able to identify "near miss" collisions (and clusters of these near misses) and then prioritize those spots for treatment. Alas, we were done in by the insurance agencies.

@Patrick_from_Youtube 2 жыл бұрын

Fantastic video, one of your best. Humans are abysmal at evaluating risk and properly responding. Driving is one of the most dangerous things we do, particularly in the age ranges for people who are otherwise young and healthy.

@sheleavitt06 2 жыл бұрын

My mother was rear ended by a drunk driver while stopped at a stoplight…twice. He backed up and hit her again. She walked away from it with only a chipped tooth, thank heaven, can’t say the same for her car, that was totaled. However, six years later she was hit by an inattentive driver while walking in the crosswalk. Like in broad daylight, in the middle of day, she was in the medium when a driver turned left after being at a stop sign…like you couldn’t see the 70 year old lady in the MIDDLE OF THE CROSSWALK when you had just been at a COMPLETE STOP SUPPOSEDLY LOOKING IN THE DIRECTION YOU WERE PREPARING TO TURN IN🤯😤😡🤬 She broke her wrest from the fall of being run over and her glasses broke on her face leaving a very nasty cut around her eye that needed stitches. Like thank heavens it wasn’t worse but still everyone who witnessed the “accident” was like how could you not see the 70 year old lady in the middle of the CROSSWALK?!?!? I’m not just mad at the driver for almost killing my mother. No, I’m mad at the city and my state. We’ve been asking for a stop light or a roundabout or something at that intersection for decades because of how unsafe it is but nothing. We’ve been dealing with this problem for longer than I’ve been alive!!!I’m suspicious that the problem is this road is technically part of the state highway system that goes right through the middle of town. So any changes to it, like adding a stoplight, would be up to the state and not our local city government 😤 How many people have to be hit at this specific intersection before something is done I don’t know but I’m really mad about it. My mother has had to have two surgeries so for to try to fix her hand and I’m afraid at her age she won’t be able to fully recover and none of it was her fault😖😖😖 Sorry for the rant I just really hate how we do roads in this country. It’s so messed up.

@CityNerd 2 жыл бұрын

That is so maddening.

@sheleavitt06 2 жыл бұрын

Tell me about it😖

@Newyorker000 2 жыл бұрын

Love your videos. Keep them coming!

@dr.comtedetarde 2 жыл бұрын

Excellent presentation! Very important subject!

@casataco 2 жыл бұрын

Dropping a like because its enlightening. Eye opening.

@sailingaeolus Жыл бұрын

Thanks! You are absolutely brilliant. Please keep up the outstanding work.

@CityNerd Жыл бұрын

Thanks, will do!

@bigskycyclist3342 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you for making this!

@reldnahc404 2 жыл бұрын

Great Points. In a cognitive psychology course we talked about why an average American has more fear flying to a destination than they do driving. Despite the statistical evidence showing that a car fatality is much more likely than an airplane fatality. It just boils down to a visibility bias, availability heuristic, and control. You touched these things in your video. Visibility bias by what we are shown in the news and what we as a culture accept car fatalities as "normal". Availability heuristic by how memorable airplane crashes are, 9/11, day music died, etc. For control we believe we are in charge of our two ton car, and with us behind the wheel how could a problem arise... While with public transit or an airplane, you are just a passenger, and you aren't in control to prevent a problem. On an airplane if a problem is occurring all we can really do is strap in and get in position. While with our flawed logical thinking for cars, we believe if we're behind the wheel we can prevent death in a crash situation. When in real life crashes happen in an instant and we don't have much control in most situations.

@agrud Жыл бұрын

Yes! Definitely do an explainer on functional classification of roadways!

@Anna_Rae Жыл бұрын

My best friend didn’t die from a car accident, but she is permanently messed up for the rest of her life. It happened when she was 11, and the result is unbearable chronic back pain. Thankfully she’s been able to get massages and some new type of treatment to help with the pain. But it will only help. That pain will never go away. All because some asshole rear ended the car she was in. Doesn’t help that insurance companies were stalking her at the age of 11 to prove that “she’s faking it” when she wasn’t. I sure love America