Cross-post da: https://slrpnk.net/post/21686998
Author of the article is: https://slrpnk.net/u/frankPodmore
EDIT: modified the title to specify that the context is UK, not USA
Just an FYI, this person is not referencing the USA’s approach to gun laws. My gut reaction to the title, unfortunately, was, “so this author wants us to start driving cars into schools, now?”
But even so, this idea is strange and wasn’t fully fleshed out. Just because you take large SUVs mostly off the street doesn’t make cars any less dangerous to pedestrians, and removing criminal offenders from the drivers seat does absolutely nothing to counter drunks, and certainly nothing about oblivious drivers or older folks that rightfully should never touch a steering wheel again.
Also, a smart car can still kill a person, especially at 55mph as they used in their example. Like, ok, maybe one turns a human into a pink mist while the other just breaks their neck and slides them across the pavement. As long as the gore is less, then the fact that both humans died doesn’t matter I guess.
The higher the hood of the car, the more deadly it is. So yes, we need to be allowing only sedans and station wagons for regular drivers, and special licenses for trucks and vans
Basic physics says that lighter vehicles have less inertia, that carries less force, that stops faster and causes less damage. Let alone the host of other benefits of smaller cars, environmental, psychological, societal etc.
I’m not denying that smaller cars are more sane, I’m just saying that no matter what a car that weighs over a thousand pounds, especially at any sort of speed, still has great potential to kill. Motorcycles that weigh less have hit and killed pedestrians.
Indeed - but that’s not the central issue here.
Traffic casualties, like running a reverse casino and deciding which games to include, are a matter of statistics.
Something that will kill you 9 times / 10 vs 4/10 will simply cause less deaths, the same for lesser injuries, less cost on society in general.
I don’t see the value of equivocating the two by ignoring their statistics.
I too am a myopic American and clicked through just to see WTF this author was suggesting.
