Originally Posted by ItsJustMe
Per year, just to be accurate. More americans died in car crashes in the first half of the 20th century than in both world wars put together. (Sorry I don't have non-US stats). About as many americans are killed every year in car wrecks as died in the entire Vietnam war.
Exactly!
I was recently asked what percentage I would find acceptable... and frankly the answer is 0, but we are only human, and will make mistakes. But looking at the statistics, some 30% or so are due to drunk driving, another 30% or so are due to speeding... so immediately it comes to mind that about 60% of the deaths are due to choices these folks made that had nothing to do with a critical decision during a bad situation... these were premeditated bad choices (to drink or to speed); not making those choices could have saved about 30,000 lives a year.
The other 15,000 lives are due to other factors such as reckless driving, poor judgement, bad road conditions, ect.
But simply slowing down, and not drinking can save 30,000 folks a year... such as Ken Kifer, who was killed by a drunk driver.