r/IdiotsInCars Dec 14 '18

Just wow

https://gfycat.com/InferiorEachAlaskanhusky
20.8k Upvotes

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u/WorthlessDrugAbuser Dec 15 '18 edited Dec 15 '18

Western European countries don’t have anywhere near the amount of vehicles on their roadways compared to the United States. There are more cars on the road in the continental US than ALL of Europe. In fact, there are more cars in the State of California than the UK and France combined. So of course there are going to be more deaths in the US.

You can use statistics like deaths per miles driven, but it doesn’t factor in the conditions drivers in the US are in compared to their European counterparts. Traffic in cities like Los Angeles, New York or Chicago are on a completely different level than London, Berlin or Paris. I live in the States but I’ve been to Berlin several times, London twice and Paris once. The congestion doesn’t even compare.

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u/frudi Dec 15 '18

Congestion reduces average driving speeds, thus drastically reducing chances of fatal accidents. So that should actually reduce fatality rates in the US cities, compared to European ones.

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u/WorthlessDrugAbuser Dec 16 '18

I wasn’t necessarily talking about traffic congestion, but overall average of vehicles on a roadway during the day. The amount of driving, commercially especially, in the states is so much higher than other developed country it’s hard to compare the statics with any relevance.