Only really dramatic traffic deaths make the news. And fender benders never make the news. That's because they're so common. Until recently there were some 45,000 traffic deaths per year in the US. That works out to 3 per day per state. So, if they were news, you'd see them every day. Traffic deaths have gone down recently and dramatically, to only about 2 per day per state in the US. Accidents per year in the US total some 1.6 million. That's pushing 90 per day per state. With gas prices going up, maybe it's time to take a train. As with Astronomy Day, May 7th, 2011 is National Train Day. Passenger deaths on trains are news when they happen. You don't hear about them because they happen so seldom.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
one point six million
Only really dramatic traffic deaths make the news. And fender benders never make the news. That's because they're so common. Until recently there were some 45,000 traffic deaths per year in the US. That works out to 3 per day per state. So, if they were news, you'd see them every day. Traffic deaths have gone down recently and dramatically, to only about 2 per day per state in the US. Accidents per year in the US total some 1.6 million. That's pushing 90 per day per state. With gas prices going up, maybe it's time to take a train. As with Astronomy Day, May 7th, 2011 is National Train Day. Passenger deaths on trains are news when they happen. You don't hear about them because they happen so seldom.
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That's a pretty dramatic decline. It makes me curious to drill down some, to break it down geographically, or by age of vehicle, or demographically, or something. Correlate it by price of gas, maybe. I've long thought that a Google maps layer that showed fatality locations would be pretty interesting. Kind of a virtual version of the roadside cross shrines that people put up for people who died there. What would it look like to see physical markers *everywhere* someone died in a vehicle?
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