this post was submitted on 14 Jan 2025
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Fuck Cars

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In the US, there is a 1 in 93 chance you will die in a motor vehicle crash in your lifetime (injuryfacts.nsc.org)
submitted 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) by slaacaa@lemmy.world to c/fuckcars@lemmy.world
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[–] kipo@lemm.ee 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I am more interested in the percentage of incidents that result in permanent injury.

The percentage of people in the US who will be permanently injured in a motor vehicle collision is much higher than 1 in 93, and we need to do something about it.

I think it's a perfectly valid statement to say it is not safe to travel by car in the US, especially as oversized pickup trucks and SUVs have become commonplace on roads.

[–] lightnsfw@reddthat.com 11 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I know less than 93 people and several already were killed in car accidents so that means I'm safe. Thanks statistics!

[–] slaacaa@lemmy.world 10 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

That’s why I always bring a bomb with myself when flying on a plane - very low odds to have two on boad

[–] RubberElectrons@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago

I do that for my bicycle 😁

[–] Ironfacebuster@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

I could've died in a motor vehicle crash just in the past week! A tire shop broke 2 wheel studs trying to remove the lug nuts, replaced them and SIMULTANEOUSLY TWISTED THE BRAKE LINE REINSTALLING THE BRAKE CALIPER. I didn't know until I had gotten to the job site after driving AN HOUR (2 hour round trip!) THROUGH WINDING MOUNTAIN ROADS EVERY DAY FOR A WEEK. I got to the job site today (technically yesterday) and the line finally popped. Holy shit.

I've been thinking about how many times in the past week the brakes could have totally failed so many times just in the past few hours. If you ever get work done on a vehicle of any kind that could 100% kill you if done something goes wrong please please please double check their work (or have someone you trust do it) and hold them accountable.

I can't embed images directly from Sync but rest assured I have many pictures of their handiwork and will be doing something about it

Edit: I'd like to specify that this is in a heavily loaded work truck and not a car. If I had lost brakes going down the mountain not only would I have had no way to stop, I would've been going so much faster than a car.

[–] RubberElectrons@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Dude that's serious as fuck, wow. How did your wind up stopping, parking brake? I've been worried about this ever since parking brakes became electric vs the older cable types.

[–] Ironfacebuster@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Luckily I had just made it into the driveway before they completely failed so I was able to put it into park. But yeah, the parking brake is cable operated luckily! I had a new brake line brought to me and I replaced it in the driveway and brought the brakes back to life.

Here's a picture of what it looked like before I replaced it Said twisted brake hose before removal

[–] psud@aussie.zone 1 points 9 hours ago

luckily!

No luck in it, it's part of the car design rules, even modern electronic automatic parking brakes are cable operated

[–] Not_mikey@slrpnk.net 35 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Railway passenger: Too few deaths in 2022 to calculate odds

But every suburbanite i know says the metro is too dangerous and that you're likely to get stabbed by a methed up homeless man.

[–] BothsidesistFraud@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I know people like this and it makes me roll my eyes for sure. But let's not pretend that the subways/metros/whatever are fine. I contend with a lot of unpleasant stuff every day and I would say have to move cars a couple times a month because someone is scaring me or there's an odor too offensive for real life.

[–] Not_mikey@slrpnk.net 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

It's system dependent but yeah, I'm not gonna argue that metro cars are always the most sanitary.

As for someone scaring you, I'd say that's a feature not a bug of the metro. It's not like there are less crazy or dangerous people driving then on the metro, it's just you don't see them. If someone's yelling slurs and nonsense on the metro you can hear / see that and change cars like you said. If they're doing that in a car there's no way for you to know about it and avoid them. Maybe you notice them driving eradically but your focused on so many other things it's easy for it to go under your radar.

Also on the metro that crazy person may have a weapon but on the road it's guaranteed that that person is in control of a vehicle that can kill dozens of people with a turn of a wheel or the press of a pedal.

[–] BothsidesistFraud@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

Road rage exists but I've never seen people intentionally ram each other on the streets (I did spend the first 12 years of adulthood doing the typical suburban/city commute by car)

I see people start fights on the subway maybe once or twice a year. Real terrible stuff. I think most of us can avoid it by having city smarts, but not everyone, and I still have to be scared by it.

It's not the same. A subset of people are way worse when trapped in a room with other people. Remember that car driving also filters out a lot of the most distressed and mentally ill people, in an expensive city.

A lot of people have opinions on transit without using it a lot. Not saying that's you but I find that the realities elude a lot of online discussers. Also probably way different in Europe and East Asia than the US sadly.

It's not all bad. It's actually really hopeful for the human spirit on 90% of rides. Like we're all from all walks of life just sitting here minding our own business in a locked room.

[–] Not_mikey@slrpnk.net 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Road rage exists, it is just less visible, especially if you're not involved. It usually won't be a car directly ramming into another, although that happens sometimes, it's going to manifest as one repeatedly cutting another off or one tailgating really close, which you probably won't notice if you're not involved but is still very dangerous. Meanwhile someone shouting or punching someone is very easy to notice on a metro car, especially since your attention is up for grabs whereas when your driving your attention is on keeping your lane, watching for your turn, maintaining your speed etc.

Yes being trapped in a confined space can trigger violence in some but in others it may discourage violence as there's no escape from the repercussions. Meanwhile if your in a car and side swipe someone you can just speed off and as long as someone doesn't catch your license plate your home free. Also cars can trap you in a confined space if your in traffic, which does trigger a lot of road rage.

I'll admit I only take the metro about once a week, mostly get around the city by walking and bus and I commute by my one wheel and commuter rail, haven't owned a car for almost all of my adult life. The main threat I face when in transit is not from crazy people on public transit, it's from cars when I'm walking or one wheeling. I think drivers normalize the danger of cars and sympathize with them, but once you spend most of your time outside the protection of one you can begin to realize how dangerous they are.

[–] spujb@lemmy.cafe 1 points 2 days ago

Road rage exists but I’ve never seen people intentionally ram each other on the streets.

I have. :( It’s terrifying.

[–] Mechanite@lemmy.world 44 points 3 days ago (1 children)

What are the chances I will die of a motor vehicle crash outside of my lifetime?

[–] br3d@lemmy.world 35 points 3 days ago

A midsized college football stadium might hold about 70,000 people. Imagine going onto the loudspeaker and announcing "Seven hundred and fifty-three of the people here today are going to die in a car crash. Enjoy the game"

[–] Albbi@lemmy.ca 13 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Not sure how Motorcyclist is different from Motor-vehicle crash.

Crazy that it's more dangerous to be a pedestrian than a Motorcyclist. Are the pedestrian deaths not being counted as a motor-vehicle crash? I doubt that many people are dying from two pedestrians running into each other.

[–] CarbonatedPastaSauce@lemmy.world 10 points 3 days ago

I'd guess it's because they aren't saying "all motorcyclists have a 1 in 722 chance of dying riding a motorcycle" they are saying "1 in 722 Americans will die in a motorcycle crash" while completely disregarding that only (making this number up) 80 of those 722 ever even rode motorcycles in the first place.

In other words, pedestrian deaths simply outnumber fatal motorcycle accidents because there are a lot more pedestrians than motorcyclists.

[–] psx_crab@lemmy.zip 3 points 3 days ago

They made the distinction likely because it's clearer that way as a statistic, as the severity of the crash is very distinct between that two mode of transport.

Also, it's that low compared to pedestrian because the scale of it. In US commuting via motorcycle is around(or below) 5% according to a quick google search. Compared to country like Malaysia, where there's equal amount of car and motorcycle on the road, it tell a different story. 6443 road death has been recorded in 2023, and of that 65% is motorcyclist.

Also the pedestrian incident meant pedestrian hit by motor-vehicle. Motor-vehicle crash mean car with car crashes, or hitting a tree.

[–] workerONE@lemmy.world 11 points 3 days ago

I wonder what are the odds for someone over 30 who has driving experience and training?

I ask because for motorcycles the first and second year riders make up most of the deaths

[–] slaacaa@lemmy.world 10 points 3 days ago

How perfectly normal

[–] psud@aussie.zone 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

The first low chance thing on that list that killed a person 2 degrees away from me was accidental gun discharge. It's only so high because it's grouped with other gun deaths, but I didn't expect to know of someone so close with a 1 in 9288 of dying how they did

Everyone else I know who's died used one of the top few methods (cancer, heart problems)

Ed. I read the whole list. The accidental gun shot death (caught his shotgun's trigger on a barbed wire fence he was crossing) was the only unlikely death in my circles

[–] FireRetardant@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

In my area, hunters are taught to fully unload their gun, place the gun on the ground then cross the fence bare handed to help prevent accidental discharges.

[–] psud@aussie.zone 1 points 1 day ago

We don't have a gun culture in Australia like the US has, and we don't have nearly the safety training. But yeah.

[–] BothsidesistFraud@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago (2 children)

This is a statistical fact that has basically no bearing on most individuals.

Risk of death in a motor vehicle crash is affected by a ton of factors, most of them within your control.

For example I live in a walkable city and I pay attention at crosswalks. When I drive, it's mostly daytime highway driving in a well-maintained vehicle with the driver (me) not impaired. All this alone reduces my risk by orders of magnitude.

At the same time there are people who are out there drunk driving on 2-lane roads and highways every weekend.

[–] meowMix2525@lemm.ee 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

So you're saying it's ~~always~~ the victims' fault when they die in a car crash? Edit: eliminated a problem word to avoid pedantry

[–] psud@aussie.zone 1 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago) (1 children)

I think they said they try hard not to be hit, and they hard not to be a driver who hits someone

They also said other drivers are less safe

A charitable way of reading it is it is telling you that you really should watch out for the bad drivers which won't be them

[–] meowMix2525@lemm.ee 1 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

The best I can do is that they didn't consider the factors that led to every person needing to be behind the wheel of a car as an almost daily occurrence in the first place. "Bad drivers" is a cop out that doesn't help anybody but the automotive industry.

[–] psud@aussie.zone 1 points 4 hours ago

Don't you agree that we should be careful while we work to make things better and safer?

[–] asdfasdfasdf@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

They literally said "most", which is not "always".

[–] meowMix2525@lemm.ee 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Oh, so just most of the victims have victimized themselves. Got it.

[–] ANTIGERMGERM@lemmy.wtf 2 points 2 days ago

"I'm not saying all rape victims deserved it but most wore a skirt at night"

[–] LaLuzDelSol@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Same thing with riding motorcycles. I hear so often "don't you know how dangerous it is?! Look at the statistics!" And yeah, it is objectively dangerous but by wearing proper gear and not being a complete idiot you can remove yourself from most of the statistics. Motorcycles attract a disproportionately thrill-seeking population, which makes motorcycles as a whole seem more dangerous than they are. If the people on bikes who are running red lights and doing 120 on the interstate didn't have motorcycles they'd be running red lights and doing 120 on the interstate in cars and dying that way instead.

[–] Pilferjinx@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

Most of my close calls were my fault. Other drivers, though, scare the hell out me. Maneuvering around motorcycles isn't too common so you end up being a snag in someone's driving habit.

[–] circuitfarmer@lemmy.sdf.org 6 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Curious if the 1:3162 figure for bicycle deaths is significantly higher in the US than other nations. I guess that depends on whether or not people who die on bikes tend to be hit by cars.

[–] psud@aussie.zone 1 points 8 hours ago

If that's per total population, Australia's is ~1:761500

[–] Not_mikey@slrpnk.net 6 points 3 days ago

Might actually be lower in the u.s. since no one's bicycling any way. Even if deaths per mile cycled is significantly higher in the u.s. , if the total miles cycled is low then deaths will be low.

[–] ANTIGERMGERM@lemmy.wtf -1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Well then just retaliate against motorists everytime one of us die. Some text-and-drive bitch rammed into a cyclist? Let's shoot randomly at traffic.

An eye for an eye isn't justice but it's still better than nothing

[–] SplashJackson@lemmy.ca 2 points 3 days ago

Either you die, or you don't. That's a 50% chance! So, if you're feeling lucky, there's no way you can lose!

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