Saw the above at Ann Althouse's place, made me shake my head. Say what?
Apparently, this truly is a thing, observed on the third Sunday of November since 1993 (started by those RoadPeace folks). Of course, the UN has the answer. (FEVR is a European thing, RoadPeace is in the UK.)
WHO, FEVR and RoadPeace have jointly developed a book, World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims: a guide for organizers, to provide practical guidance to people or groups on how to plan and organize events on this day. The book gives a brief history of the day, offers suggestions on how to plan the day and provides examples of specific activities that can be organized. We encourage all those concerned with road traffic crashes and their consequences to use this guide to organize annual events in different parts of the world to ensure that the advocacy opportunity of this day is fully realized. (Source)What are the facts, here in the U.S. of A?
According to statista -
Between 2011 and 2017, road traffic injuries in the United States grew by about 530,000 incidents to some 2.7 million road traffic-related injuries in 2017. Over the same period, fatalities had also increased by about 5,000. This follows two decades of a general decrease in the amount of traffic-related injuries.They go on to say -
In the United States, male drivers are behind the wheel in the majority of fatal crashes. Speeding and driving under the influence of alcohol have often been to blame, neither have led to a rise in traffic fatalities in the U.S. Instead, cellphones are primarily the cause. Smartphone ownership has become almost omnipresent in the U.S. since 2011, and drivers are likely to be distracted by texting and using social media. Young drivers are the ones accounting for the highest share of cellphone use fatalities. Another reason why fatal accidents are rising in number is that non-occupants’ exposure to risk is also increasing. As residents become more encouraged to walk or cycle in cities, the extra time amongst traffic has led to higher rates of fatalities and injuries amongst cyclists and pedestrians. Lastly, poor infrastructure and lack of awareness by motorists is prevalent in large parts of the United States.They even have a chart -
 |
| (Source) |
- Year Fatalities
- 1990 44599
- 1993 40150
- 1996 42065
- 1999 41717
- 2002 43005
- 2005 43510
- 2008 37423
- 2011 32479
- 2014 32744
- 2017 37133
As for Fauxcahontas' tweet... Seriously, #EndTrafficViolence? How about any of the following instead?
- #EndStupidityNow
- #TeachPeopleHowToDrive
- #PayAttentionBehindTheWheel
- #ShutUpLiz
You might gather that I am not a big Elizabeth Warren fan. You would be correct in that assumption.
I find the inability of many people to correctly operate a motor vehicle somewhat appalling. Seeing examples of complete stupidity and woeful failures to actually pay attention every single day, it rather staggers the imagination when you wonder how some people were ever licensed to drive. Perhaps on the day they were tested, they actually knew what they were doing, but over time they've developed some very bad habits it would seem.
Yes, it's a problem but it's not a problem that's going to be solved by observances, sanctimonious tweets, and the like. Not to mention that the mourning of a lost loved one is a very personal affair, not sure how all of that WHO stuff will fix anything or comfort anyone. I dunno, maybe it will, no doubt YMMV.
But seriously, #EndTrafficViolence? Like the bad drivers are doing this intentionally?
#WhatAnIdiot
Nail on the head Sarge. The more people there are the more stupid people there are, result.... more accidents. This kind of buffalo manure lets people FEEL they can do something about a "problem". Calling traffic accidents "traffic violence" means the "problem" can be legislated away just like "gun violence". Oh look the nanny state made the world safer for you........ mini rant over. Good post Sarge, Warren is a dangerous buffoon like so many on the Left.
ReplyDeleteFauxcahontas is a dangerous person.
DeleteI'm thinking the end game is, "Zero Drivers Equals Zero Traffic Violence."
ReplyDeleteYou do not need your own vehicle comrade, the mass transit collective will make travel perfectly safe.
(And yes, I am typing this in my Boris and Natasha voice.)
As Nylon12 said, good post and nail on the head indeed.
Bingo, the State will protect you and transport you and tell you where to work and who to worship and what to eat...
DeleteThe list goes on and on.
Perhaps we could hold driver safety/escape and evasion/ training on race tracks.
ReplyDeleteMaybe include it as part of a high school driver's ed class - I'm sure most high school boys would enjoy that; plus the track could get some off hours money for maintenance and repair.
Frank
An excellent idea Frank.
DeletePer usual, let me be a contrarian. The fatality rate would be much higher if cars hadn't become far safer. Add far more roundabouts every year. Intersection accidents may even be up but the speeds involved are lower.
ReplyDeleteWhat isn't talked about is the cost to the consumer. When I started selling cars in 1986, it took 26 weeks of the average household's income to purchased the average new car. Nowadays it is over 50 weeks. Conspiracy buffs may argue government mandated safety features are a hidden way to force the proletariat into mass transit.
All those elitist #$%^ should be forced to live and work in Wamsutter, WY.
Ya kinda missed the point WSF. Fatalities were dropping, mostly due to safety enhancements in the vehicles themselves, but now they are climbing again probably due to cell phone usage. But Fauxcahontas is virtue signaling with this tweet, she's a danger to our unalienable rights.
DeleteYou are right.
DeleteYou still made some valid points though. Completely agree with your last statement.
DeleteAlso teach people how to cross the street! Look both ways, and move quickly, don't dawdle. I see people these days just cross as soon as the light changes. Most pedestrian accidents are because kids have not been taught how to cross a street. Hell, I look both ways on one way streets.
ReplyDeleteAlso, go straight across, no freaking diagonals! Many jaywalkers do precisely that. #WhatAnIdiot.
DeleteI just love jaywalkers who give me the finger while they stroll out into the street. so tempting. tempting.
DeleteHahaha!
DeleteThank you for waiting, your call is important to us…
ReplyDeleteWe need to follow the money. The training I received (1950 Ford, my dad in charge), then in High School (1954), a COMPREHENSIVE course of drivers ed and driving three or four hours with an instructor. All included in whatever taxes were paid in San Mateo CA County. DMV Office ASAP on 16th birthday!
Now a learner has to pick up the huge expense of training and the phony steps to a drivers license complicate the issue tremendously. In California, I suspect that being a native Spanish speaker exempts you somehow from all the complications.
My oldest grandson just went through it all. Now licensed, he drives my former 1995 Toyota Pickup with a stick shift (200,460 miles). I gave it to him five years ago, never realizing that he would be driving it sooner or later. Oh bother, now I have to rent a car to have transportation in Santa Cruz and environs. He should hope that I never catch him using his phone whilst driving. It is possible that I would rat him out to his dad the cop. HMMM probably not. I feel that all this car-talking is distracting, even when your car is handling the call - buttons on the steering wheel.
Oh, excuse me, I have to take this…
I fail to see the need to be in constant communication at all times. Even people walking around the grocery store are nattering away on their phones. A lot of pedestrians walk right into the street while on their phones. It's out of control.
DeleteUpon first reading the post I was sure it was satire. I mean NOBODY could be that stupid, right? Then I read it again......
ReplyDeleteSame here, Cap'n.
DeleteGreat post Sarge and a super +1 for chasing down data and providing sources.
ReplyDeleteCouple of things come to mind. It's becoming more and more clear that all government agencies have gone out of control so far as leveraging everything they do toward government control and de facto abrogation of civil liberties. It's a multifaceted approach of lying, propaganda, data changing, and the ol' if you want your health care, tax refund, social security check etc., you just gotta do it our way and shut up. Big mediatainment is all in on this too. I get a chuckle out of people who think CNN is rotten while FOX is correct and vice versa. They're both rotten and do nothing but sling propaganda and red meat to get viewers/clicks. It works for their bottom line but every single bit of it is garbage. If you want good info you can easily find it if you're willing to do the work and expend the effort, as you've shown here. But there's no constitutional right to an objective media, quite the reverse actually (First Amendment). So it's up to the citizen enjoying the blessings of liberty to do the work and provide their own wise counsel if they actually want to be informed.
That rant out of the way, there are many major signs that huge numbers of our fellow Americans are waking up to the BS and tuning out of media and government propaganda and informing themselves, so that's to the good.
The smart phone menace is clearly a problem, as is stupid driving. In the big picture, from a purely statistical/scientific/economic(behavior economics rather than $ economics) it's a self-limiting problem just as opioid OD's, meth addiction, and dangerous lifestyle choices are. The stupid kill themselves, hopefully before they have a chance to pass on genetic material. There's a lot of collateral damage and tragedy, but life's like that. The tree of liberty must from time to time be watered with the blood of patriots and nourished with the carcasses of idiots.
I have personally noted, to get back on topic (sorry, my bad) an increase in "the stupid it burns" driving. Seen a lot of sudden unsignalled left turns from the right lane lately, also passing on hills and driving way too fast on icy roads in bad viz.
Again, great post and thanks for the hard work!
Ah, you get it. There is a lot of "the stupid, it burns " driving in this area. In some instances it seems to be arrogance ("I know what I'm doing") in others it's just incompetence ("really, I have to yield to oncoming traffic while making a turn?"). You don't see a lot of that in Germany (at least I didn't in the years 1992-1999) but saw it a lot in other countries (I thought the Belgians were horrible drivers, then I moved here). Education is key also the need to monitor people's driving habits, though I don't know how you'd do that without some local asshole, er, I mean politician, (I know, same-same) seeing a way to make more money on that by having the local LEOs start writing more tickets. Sigh, it's crazy...
DeleteIn your comment to WSF, you said, "Ya kinda missed the point WSF. Fatalities were dropping, mostly due to safety enhancements in the vehicles themselves, but now they are climbing again probably due to cell phone usage."
ReplyDeleteWell...
Actually...
The way to solve the issue of increased traffic injuries and fatalities and drunk driving and most anything expensive related to vehicles on the road and bad things happening is...
STOP THE FRIGGIN ILLEGALS FROM GETTING ANYWHERE NEAR OUR FRIGGIN ROADS, LIZZIE!!!!
Yeah, what the socialist scum and villany don't tell us in all their news reports and tweets and everything else is that illegal aliens in this country are driving up all stats related to traffic injuries. Drunk driving, Si! Reckless driving, Si! Traffic accidents, Si! Driving without a license (even a foreign nation's one,) Si! Traffic fatalities, Si! Hit and runs, Si! and Si! and Si! and SI!. And, of course, because they're illegals, they do illegal things like drive without insurance and drive stolen cars or cars that shouldn't be on the road at all because, well, ILLEGALS, SI!
#KickIllegalsout #STFUWarren #BanIllegalDrivers #CitizensoftheUSAOnly #Epsteindidn'tkillhimself(Probablyanillegaldriverdid)
Okay, seriously, traffic issues are like 'gun violence issues.' They are driven (he, see what I did there?) by people doing illegal things, illegally. 'Gun Violence' (without suicide included) is driven by people doing a variety of illegal things, like, well, possession of a firearm by a felon, possession of a firearm while in possession of illegal substances (yes, it is a little used Law there...,) possession w/intent to, aggravated battery (actually hitting someone,) murder, etc.
What drives up the traffic stuff are not mostly distracted drivers (else cops would be wrecking everywhere, as they play on their computers, talk on the radio, talk on their phones, grab weapons, eat, drink, etc, and don't give me the line that 'they're trained to do this,' as most people can drink (non-alcoholic substances) or eat or talk on the phone or fiddle-fart with radio or a/c/heater selections or yell at the kids/adults in or outside the car. It's not hard to do, it's actually rather easy to do, and rarely if ever results in an accident. Only when one's attention is focused totally on not driving does that become an issue.
What does become an issue are the following crimes, which are all associated with higher 'accident' rates: DWLSR (driving with License Suspended or Revoked), DWOL (Driving without a License), DUI/DWI Driving under the influence/while intoxicated, Driving w/o Insurance, Driving with License permanently revoked, being an Illegal Alien. These crimes are a strong precursor to any traffic accident, and are involved in most traffic accidents involving injury or death. Seriously. And the largest growing factor of those listed above is... being an illegal alien driver.
So... Stop illegal aliens. That means those states that issue driver licenses to illegals, like California, need to stop. Those states that pander to illegal aliens, like California, need to stop. Those politicians who support illegals over citizens need to stop, put a plastic bag over their heads and really stop. Seriously. Supporting illegals over citizens? WTF?
Build the wall. Export as many illegals as we can find. Make our politicians care more about our citizenry than illegal aliens. Call illegal aliens 'Illegal Aliens.'
How many of our citizens must die or be injured or lose money or have their vote disenfranchised before we all stand up and shout #GettheFrigOutaHere and #GoHomeYouStinkingIllegals and #STFULizzie.
While in some states illegal aliens are an issue when it comes to motor vehicle accidents, here in southern New England that isn't really the case. Sure we have illegals, Providence is packed with 'em as is (probably) Boston. But the average American citizen in these parts is a completely horrid driver. Texting while driving, talking on the cell phone (which is illegal but if you don't get caught...), traveling under the speed limit in the passing lane, passing on the shoulder, etc., etc., etc. From my observations most of the bad driving is done by white males between the ages of 18 to 25. Second worst are white females of the same age group. Illegals don't even register as far as I've seen. California, Texas, Florida, I'm guessing that's a huge (yuge) problem. Here in Little Rhody, not so much.
DeleteOther than that, it's a good day, not too hot, well, except for the glowing orb of pain...
ReplyDeleteAnd, as Captain Steve asked, really, Nobody could be that stupid... unless they're a democrat, especially a democratic candidate. None of the candidates current or expected to stick their nose under the tent are anything a normal person would call sensible. Even Tulsi, who is a soft bolshevik. They all are left-wing loonies. And they scare me. Especially the ones that support illegals over citizens (geez, Beans, we get it, you have a burrito up your butt over illegals, okay, quit beating the dead caballo...)
It's the "we know better" crowd. Convinced of their superiority they wish to dictate to the rest of us. Fire truck that. Most of the Rethuglicans aren't any better. They all see themselves as a ruling class and we LET THEM GET AWAY WITH IT. They work FOR US and they need to be reminded of that at election time.
DeleteThe asswipes in Congress are NOT our leaders, they are our representatives. Only the President is elected to actually be a leader. The rest are effing minions of the people except far too many idiots who vote seem to have forgotten that and think they we work for THEM.
Oh dear, blood pressure is sky high, climbing down off the soap box...
"People don't hurt people, Traffic does" So let's outlaw traffic, as many parts of Europe are doing.
ReplyDeleteWhat I noticed was missing in the initial charts was the input side of the equation, being miles driven by all that evil traffic. The wiki page does have that info, and shows that the current rate per 100 million miles is below the early 2000's, and well below the 90's and earlier. It is up from its all time low in 2014, but not in any sort of crisis way. Unless of course you're trying to manufacture an anti-traffic crisis.
/
L.J.
I'm glad you looked at those numbers L.J., I was going to but got lazy.
DeleteIt's another "we-have-to-do-something-it's-for-the-children" crisis du jour. Glad you chased that down!
Look for the countries with low death rates, check if any solutions can be used locally. My fave solution to speeding is speed bumps before every pedestrian crossing. Passive, unlike speed cameras dont need any personnel to write and pursue speeding tickets, and if any moron ignores them money goes to hardworking repair mechanic not state...
ReplyDeleteSpeed bumps work, so do cameras to catch people doing stupid things. Giving the mechanics work certainly helps the economy. 😁
DeleteI rather like #ShutUpLiz.
ReplyDeleteWorks for me!
DeleteNow THIS is a post worth sharing (not that most of yours aren't) so I hope you don't mind if I do so.
ReplyDeleteAs always, share away!
DeleteAnecdote. Made the mistake of driving in Lincoln (Nebraska, of course. Is there another?) one day when a kollidge stoodint thought she should be driving. Stopped at a red light and she rear-ended me at 40 mph, never even slowed down. Of course I piled out through the window (door was jammed) to render assistance and my first look filled me with horror, a pretty blond girl with a mangled face covered in blood. But, um, something doesn't look right. WTFO? The air bag had literally exploded the bright red lipstick she'd been applying when she hit me. Exploded it all over her face. She did have a good cut over one eye from the lipstick case. Other than that she was fine. Butt I'm sure she learned a valuable lesson! Not.
ReplyDeleteWow, you can't make this kind of stuff up.
Delete