Deaths from auto accidents is nothing compared to deaths from natural causes...Black Death killed an estimated 75-200 million people and reduced Europes population by 60 %.

Yes, I was confusing world-wide with U.S. only.

Well, deaths from natural causes are, um, natural. To say that automobile deaths are not natural is to say they are preventible or at least reducible. But society seems to have a limited interest in preventing auto deaths.

Every year we tolerate three times as many deaths from cars as died in terrorist attacks on 9/11.

We started two (or more) wars to avenge 9/11, with many times more deaths. But as long as we can get to the Quikee-mart pretty quickly, we don't mind a fairly high risk of getting killed or maimed on the roads.

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with this, but it seems weird if you stop to think about it.

I find the number of deaths caused by motor vehicles unacceptable. However like the frog in a pot of water being boiled to death it pretty much goes unnoticed. However for comparison; if were to start crashing a 737 every day of the week there would be an uproar and the demand that "something" be done. I honestly think that self driving cars will go a long ways towards reducing the number and severity of crashes and can't wait to see that technology evolve. I would also like to see more and better mass transit...

Aaron :)

I don't agree on the driverless cars. Yes they probably will be (in the rather distant future) safer than humon operated cars. But their main purpose is not to reduce deaths, but to increase the capacity of roads so even more cars will be able to fit on them. And I don't think they'll be tolerant of bikes and pedestrians, either. I think "No bikes / No walking" signs will go up all over when (if) the driverless cars take over.

Autodrive can be amusing or scary in scifi, but it is limited by vanishing resources as much as any other industrial product. We passed peak oil a decade ago and peaks of rare metals in electronics are rapidly approaching.

I think we are in an oil glut.

Oil is temporarily cheaper because some nations and regions can't afford it anymore. They stopped buying it, stopped maintaining their infrastructure, and dropped out of the oil market permanently. While oil is cheap, the more expensive wells are not worth operating, so that machinery is also neglected, and will cost more to restart when the price rises again, or may never be restarted.

Which specific nations and/or regions stopped buying oil (and the products derived from oil) as well as permanently dropped out of the oil market?

I could not find any specific locations, since those places tend to fall off the radar of global reporting. When they get noticed the articles are usually written as famine, war, etc. The principle is called demand destruction, which can be observed here in an earlier stage, such as people who bike because they can't afford cars.

The demand for oil of such countries is surely a drop in the bucket, and unlikely to have much effect on world oil prices.

A good explanation of why prices are falling:
http://www.vox.com/2014/12/16/740170...prices-falling

Something else to consider:

[h=1]Gas is only cheap because we haven’t raised taxes in 20 years[/h]

Which might not be a good thing considering:

[h=1]Most fossil fuels 'unburnable' under 2C climate target[/h]

USA is world no. 1 prison nation. Maybe all the criminals are finally locked up?

It doesn't work. Crime has also fallen in other countries. The article in The Economist also looks at crime rates in the UK. Further, "get tough" policies did not have any significant impact. Places with these policies do not see any significant difference in their crime rate reductions compare to places without these policies.

Cities that intensified their police forces saw crime rate reductions; but so did the cities that disbanded their police forces. The good part is that politicians running on their records can generally point to success in curbing crime, and it really does not matter what policy they instituted. The bad part is that the unwary can be fooled into thinking that the policies actually had a significant impact.

There are also fewer wars and massacres. Maybe the human species has gotten less angry and hurtful--outside of DC anyways! :)

The world is not falling apart: The trend lines reveal an increasingly peaceful period in history.

Nice... thanks for posting!

[later..] Just read the whole thing... Great article. Great irony! The sky is not falling...

What I find interesting is what the stats show, but the evening news doesn't... :rolleyes:

I know the stats are for overall, but some areas (like the one I live in) violent crime is actually increasing, must be nice to live in a place where they are decreasing.

Aaron :)