One of the leading causes of death in America is automobile accidents for people between the ages of 15-64.
We all take this for granted and don’t talk about it or worry about it much. We should.
You are four times more likely to die in a car crash than be murdered, three times more likely than suicide, and higher than cancer or heart disease.
I think we need to start taking this much more seriously.
Even if you are a safe driver, most other people on the road are not. I feel this is especially true in Los Angeles where a third of the drivers are weaving in and out of traffic at rates of speed much higher than what everyone else is going.
I have had traffic be stopped several times around me in Washington and California, and at least a third of the other drivers who get out of their vehicles were drunk or high and openly talked about it.
I know lots of old people and they all still drive. None of them voluntarily agrees to give up their licenses… even those who have been blinded in one eye or suffered a stroke or have Parkinson’s or are extremely old and feeble.
I have made it a major point for myself to avoid driving whenever possible now. I work from home. I only actually drive somewhere every couple of weeks. It takes a VERY strong impetus for me to actually be willing to get in a car.
I think ten or twenty years in the future, people will be shocked and horrified that people in our time commonly drove cars themselves. AI will be piloting vehicles at that point and the accident rate will be zero.
I enjoy life and don’t want to prematurely die or suffer horrible injuries.