But in fact the road toll has been coming down even in absolute numbers, almost ever since records started! And even more steeply if considered as a figure per car, per head or per kilometre. (Suicide is now a much more common cause of death, especially among teenagers, even without including an unknown number of 'suicide by car')Quote:
Originally Posted by newhue
The only real dramatic falls have been compulsory seat belts and random breath testing. Most of the fall has been an accumulation of minor improvements, mainly in roads and driver attitudes, but also in vehicle standards, improved maintenance with generally wealthier society, better law enforcement, and many other contributing factors.
No government is prepared to face the fact that the vast majority of serious accidents involve a driver affected by drugs, most commonly alcohol, usually together with totally ignoring road rules. And these drivers are only a tiny minority - but they are the ones you notice.
And to put in perspective "It's such a sad thing when kids die before their parents", today, in Australia, we tend to forget that even here, until less than a hundred years ago, around half of all children died before their parents, mainly in the first few years.
This has applied throughout human history, and applies to some societies today, and to many much more recently than in Australia. Have a look round any old cemetery. For example, some years ago I visited the village cemetery near Orange where my father grew up a century ago - closed in 1930, less than 10% of burials there were adults. (My father's family lost only one out of six - to diphtheria, a disease most have never heard of today, thanks to vaccination)
John
