• utopianfiat@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Okay, but we aren’t willing not to license dumb drivers because we have decided as a society that to lose your car is to lose your right to an independent life. We aren’t willing to hold dumb drivers accountable for killing people for the same reason. We establish parking minimums for dive bars even though we know people are going to drink and drive and kill people.

      • shortwavesurfer@monero.town
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        1 year ago

        The car doesnt kill anybody. Its the driver on their phone, checking their nails, eating McDonald’s, etc that kill people.

        • im stuff@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          1 year ago

          the car absolutely kills people. that same big mac licking driver on a bike or bus or scooter causes 0 deaths. it’s the cars

          • shortwavesurfer@monero.town
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            1 year ago

            Okay, yes. You are correct. The weight of the car is what does the damage since a bike or scooter doesnt kill people. However, the carelessness of the driver is at fault. If the person never got in the car and ate the big mac the car would not have killed somebody. Because the car would never have moved.

            • ReakDuck@lemmy.ml
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              1 year ago

              No, the driver just didn’t react fast enough or a light distracted. Its not always stupid reasons but maybe in your movie world.

          • 4onTheFloor@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            No it doesn’t lol. You need an operator for a car to function. Cars just don’t go driving around running into people and random objects. If you get into an accident, who do they go after? The at fault driver. Not the car. It wasn’t the vehicles fault it got into an accident. It was the person operating said vehicle.

            Operator error.

            Edit: I’m starting to think most people here just don’t want to take responsibility for being stupid. Downvote all you want, drivers in cars kill people, not the car itself.

            • im stuff@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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              1 year ago

              while you are factually correct that the human is a part of the chain of blame, it is systemically inefficient to blame the driver

              in order to make systemic change and make cars safer, we CANNOT say “oh lol drivers fault, get good.” expecting that order of change from hoards of people is unrealistic.

              however if i blame unsafely sized cars, fast, wide unsafe roads, a failure of US public transport—these are also realistic points of systemic change that i can point to.

              tldr cars are unsafe, cars need to get safer, no amount of blaming the driver will solve things

              • 4onTheFloor@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                Driver chose to drive, therefore taking the responsibility of not only their life in their hands, but others on the road as well. Yes, you blame the driver. Because the driver also made the choice to drive the vehicle, then chose to check their cell phone and cause an accident. It’s just responsibility at that point.

                It’s not vehicles, it’s people. Cars are safer than they’ve ever been. People in general, just choose to not be responsible. And that’s the reality of it.

                Don’t get me wrong, vehicles in general are dangerous in the fact that they are basically rolling hunks of metal with combustibles.

                At the end of the day though, it’s just that most people aren’t willing to admit to themselves that they shouldn’t be driving because they’re too easily distracted in the first place.

                Responsibility and self awareness. Put the phone down, don’t eat and drive, put your music on before you put the car in drive. It’s not rocket science.

                • OwenEverbinde@lemmy.myserv.one
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                  1 year ago

                  At the end of the day though, it’s just that most people aren’t willing to admit to themselves that they shouldn’t be driving because they’re too easily distracted in the first place.

                  Is there any room in your mind for the possibility that some people simply have different values than you?

                  You’re acting like the only people disagreeing with you are people who have been in accidents and are looking for something outside of themselves to blame. You’re acting like deep down they agree with you that all error comes from a lack of competence and responsibility.

                  (Aside: I hate cars and our car-centric infrastructure and I haven’t been in any accidents, which means I don’t fit into your narrative here. But that’s not likely to sway you. And I know that’s not likely to sway you. Because I know you don’t share my perspective.)

                  But is it remotely possible to you that some people out there might just believe:

                  mistakes and errors are inevitable for everyone – not just for stupid, careless, irresponsible, incompetent, hopeless lost causes masquerading as people.

                  And even if mistakes were only made by those kinds of people – meaning a single mistake could mark you as a “bad person” – saving “bad people’s” lives is still better than letting those people die. Just because they couldn’t figure out a car doesn’t mean they deserve to die in an accident (or starve to death because their suburban house is too far from the nearest grocery store and they accept that they can’t drive.)

                  Is it really impossible for you to imagine that some people might just place value on human lives, regardless of cost and regardless of personal responsibility?

                  Prehistoric humans are now known to have spent years dragging around and caring for their paralyzed tribe mates millennia ago. Meaning the kind of people I’m talking about have existed for thousands of years. People who don’t care about personal responsibility. People who just want the best for everyone around them.

                  If you told these people, “some of your tribe mates will be incapable of safely driving vehicles. How should we build this city?” They would (once you showed them what all of those words meant) have intentionally laid out the city to allow those poorly-driving tribe mates to walk or use transit. They would place nearby grocery stores. They would direct high density housing to go up in the area. They would try to make it possible to avoid using cars. And the city they built would have 90% less cars because of it.

                  To them such a city would be an obvious choice.

                  You don’t have to agree with the cavemen who cared for their dying relatives. But please acknowledge that they existed, and didn’t hold your beliefs. Please acknowledge that the people you’re arguing with, don’t hold your beliefs.

                • im stuff@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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                  1 year ago

                  ppl just choose not to be responsible

                  you should look into some common causes of car accident, which include:

                  • rain
                  • night driving
                  • design defects
                  • ice
                  • snow
                  • tire blowouts
                  • fog full list

                  cars are safer than theyve ever been

                  no (nbcnews article)

                  overall, my position is the same as yours: the average driver is WILDLY unfit to operate a multiton chunk of metal on a daily basis.

                  however, it is wildy unrealistic to hope against hope that one day, every driving person will wake up and realize that they should drive safe. there has to be systemic effort, whether thats reduction in cars, increase in mandatory car training or increased access to public transport, in order to see systemic improvement.

                • Piers@lemmy.world
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                  1 year ago

                  The driver can be personally responsible for their own failures without that alleviating the responsibility of good decision making by those who are responsible for ensuring people are able to live their lives safely.

        • AlternateRoute@lemmy.ca
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          1 year ago

          As much attention EVs get car fires kill about 500+ people per year in the US and cause over 1.9Billion in property damage.

          Regular gas cars have been recalled many times for spontaneous combustion while parked burning down garages and homes.

          Most of the time however yes it is from operators driving.

        • chilicheeselies@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Its also people who dont know how to cross the street or anyone who disobeys traffic laws. Ive seen bikes just run red lights, dart through stop signs, people just cross against the light without even looking.

          Its general carelessness with regards to the roads

          • shortwavesurfer@monero.town
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            1 year ago

            Ive seen people casually walk in front of lightrail trains against the light too. If they want to take their stupid out of the gene pool have at it.

          • wilberfan@lemmy.film
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            1 year ago

            A jaywalker came within half a second of running in front of my car just a couple of days ago.

        • 4onTheFloor@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Not sure why you’re getting downvoted. You’re not wrong. It’s the operator. If people actually drove responsibly, we probably wouldn’t have as many issues. There are definitely too many distractions, and people in general just naturally mind wander.

          That being said, it would be much better to have a mass transit system. Less accidents, I can watch my phone, do my nails, and eat my mcdonald’s without worry of killing someone.

          • Grabbels@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            But that’s the thing: like you say, people are naturally prone to “mind-wander”, keeping that in mind and to then compare the amount of rigorous training and checking that pilots have to go through compared to the in comparison measly process of acquiring a driver’s license (and then indefinitely keeping it with no questions asked unless you do indeed run somebody over) is absolutely mind-boggling. Some countries have some safequards in place such as required driving-tests when you reach a certain age as a driver but it still does in no way account for how much of a murder-machine cars are and how casual we are about just about everyone with a shrimp for a brain driving them.

          • shortwavesurfer@monero.town
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            1 year ago

            What we need is mass transit with cubes. I think a lot of the reason people dont like busses is having to listen to peoples screaming children, dealing with drunks, etc. I imagine a bus with small cubes that are soundproof kinda like those portable toilets but with a bus seat instead. Get on the bus, pay, go into an empty cube, slide the door closed. No crying babies, drunk people, etc. Pull the cord when your stop is announced.

            • T-rex Teabag@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              Good idea but you lose a huge amount of capacity with the cubes. It would still be magnitudes more efficient than a car per person though.

                • T-rex Teabag@lemmy.world
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                  1 year ago

                  Buses are designed to carry a lot more people than the number of seat they have since they allow for standing. Adding cubes would take away that standing space.

    • Naja Kaouthia@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Almost got hit today by two separate dipshits not paying attention and/or having zero awareness about the size of the dumbass large trucks they were driving.

      Edit: forgot a word.

  • fubo@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    The top three causes of preventable fatal injury in the US are:

    1. poisoning (including drug overdoses)
    2. motor vehicles
    3. falls

    We might generalize these to:

    1. chemistry
    2. engineering
    3. physics
    • sci@feddit.nl
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      1 year ago

      im pretty sure the engineering is not at fault for most car accidents.

        • Coreidan@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          What about the chemical engineers creating fuels that turn out environments into toxic hellholds? Where does all of the pollution in the world come from?

      • ristoril_zip@lemmy.zip
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        1 year ago

        We could use engineering controls to limit the speed of consumer vehicles to 10 mph, still faster than a human can walk, but slow enough that most deadly accidents could be avoided.

        Then establish administrative controls to have public transportation or other professional drivers (taxi operators) have “unlocked” vehicles. They would be required to have routine training and testing to keep their unlocked license.

        • sci@feddit.nl
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          1 year ago

          #1 Distracted Driving. …

          #2 Drunk and Drugged Driving. …

          #3 Poor Weather. …

          #4 Reckless Driving and Road Rage. …

          #5 Speeding. …

          limiting speed would not affect the leading 4 causes of car accidents

          • ristoril_zip@lemmy.zip
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            1 year ago

            It would affect fatal injury car accidents. A driver would have to be holding a knife pointed at their jugular to be killed in a 10 mph wreck (20 mph total relative speed of get hit another 10 mph limited car).

    • Contravariant@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      The third is more gravity than physics, or perhaps you should consider it the absence of gravity.

      What I’m trying to say is: stop following geodesics.

  • UnfortunateDoorHinge@aussie.zone
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    1 year ago

    Ladders. Most serious workplace accidents in a lot of trades can be linked back to falling from a hight. Don’t be cocky when up a ladder, even little ones.

    • socsa@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      Ladders are legitimately one of the leading causes of death and serious injury among otherwise healthy middle aged adults. A basic fall protection system with some flex rope and a climbing harness can be had for around $100. I don’t care if my neighbors think I’m a dweeb, I’m not dying for clean gutters.

    • Dr Cog@mander.xyz
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      1 year ago

      Pools are more dangerous than owning a gun in the same way that vending machines kill more people than sharks.

      People are near vending machines way more often than they are near sharks, and people let their kids play in the pool more often than they let them play with firearms

      • mintyfrog@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        Nope. Under 10% of households have a swimming pool, but over 40% of households have a gun in the USA. When we’re talking about owning one as opposed to actively using one, the pool is more dangerous than the gun.

        Now, if you just left your loaded gun out in your backyard 24/7, it may be a different story.

        • Dr Cog@mander.xyz
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          1 year ago

          I don’t doubt your numbers, but that wasn’t the point I was making. Guns may be more common, but it isn’t common to let your children play with them. It is, however, common to let your children play in the pool.

          • mintyfrog@lemmy.ml
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            1 year ago

            The original thread was about how houses with pools have more children die than houses with guns. Your point indicated that this was only because guns are less commonplace (sharks are less commonplace than vending machines). However, guns are more commonplace. The guns sitting in a safe aren’t harming anyone. The pools sitting in backyards might be.

    • maporita@unilem.org
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      1 year ago

      You could make the same claim for salt, saturated fats or even water if you wanted to. Everything is a poison… it just depends on the dose.

      Our bodies actually need a certain amount of sugar . It’s why evolution built into us the craving for sweet things … sugar is instant energy and in the distant past that often meant the difference between life and death.

      I eat a lot of sugar, but I also run 70 miles a week and swim 5 so all that energy is not only consumed but required. If you like sugar maybe the answer is to increase your excercise rather than reduce your intake.

      • BirdyBoogleBop@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        1 year ago

        No we don’t need extra sugar. We can make our own sugar from carbs, protein, and fat.

        I think sugar is the only macronutrient we don’t actually need any of to survive.

        Most people don’t put in 1.5 to 2 hours of excersise a day, I’d be surprised if the average person does 1.5 to 2 hours a week. That is a big ask for the average person. I’d personally would rather just cut out my snacking and go to the gym 3 times a week.

      • tider06@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        True, but there’s a difference between natural sugars, like from a strawberry, and the processed sugars (or worse HFCS) you find in almost every item on the market these days.

        Exercise is helpful, but it’s hard to keep up when you don’t have time for it or the time to prepare your own meals all the time with fresh ingredients.

  • bermuda@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    I’d say electricity. Even with all the safety precautions we have when using our electrical devices, there’s still so much that can go wrong

    • arcrust@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      Here’s the thing with electricity: it’s invisible.

      If you’re using a power saw, you can see the blade. You can see other cars (obviously there’s blind spots). You can see a burning flame on your stove, or maybe hear/smell the gas.

      You may have a box and know that there’s electricity inside, but you have no idea if it’s wired correctly. You have no idea if the breaker is shut, or if there’s batteries inside. We’ve engineered a lot of controls to keep things safe like LEDs to show it’s on and ground wires on all the metal bits (thank you underwriter laboratories). But all of those can fail and you can still get shocked because electricity is essentially invisible and requires tools (multimeter) to inform you that it’s dead.

      None of your senses will let you know if something with electricity is safe. It’s a gamble every single time you touch something electrical. You can be seriously hurt with voltages as low as 30v, assuming worst case conditions like you just finished swimming in the ocean.

      Using electrical equipment is like walking through a construction site blindfolded while someone yells directions at you from afar.

    • jeanma@lemmy.ninja
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      1 year ago

      definitely, this and even gas. Being directly connected to the grid is a bit insane, when you think about it.