Car driving is so common that we don't give enough attention to the fact that we are driving 2 ton death machines. amirite?

When I see cars that are flipped over on the highway, I am reminded how easily someone can flip a car. Just press down on your gas pedal, turn the wheel sharply, and let the curb give you a lift off ramp. It's also the reason why I drive a mid size car though I would love to buy a little sports car like a Miata. In any collision, I would always lose. Those SUV monsters scare me.

by Motor-Librarian 1 year ago

Same. I'd love to have a yellow electric vespa some day but I don't trust other people's driving, especially in a truck that would sit taller than my head.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

And one would think a city should be the safest place for a moped. :(

by Anonymous 1 year ago

By how casually you say that, I have to ask; How many times a week are you seeing cars flipped over on the highway, my guy?

by Anonymous 1 year ago

That reminds me of a vine. Where the driver says to his 3 friends. "Ya know… I could just cross the double yellow line and kill us all" in a menacing voice.

by Kassulkeludwig 1 year ago

I've witnessed a BMW X5 survive getting T-boned by a semi with no casualties. If you have money to spend never get a sports car. Get a heavy SUV of German or US make.

by No_Anteater 1 year ago

I saw a pickup truck that looked like it was cut in half above the wheels a few days ago. No one walked away from that one.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

No, I'm reminded every time I step into my car.

by lorenmorar 1 year ago

As a motorcyclist, I'm sharply aware of the death machines and their idiot inhabitants surrounding me. When driving my car, I therefore try as hard as I can to not be a lethally dangerous idiot.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

As an idiot inhabitant of said death machine, I'll remember your words the next time one of your lane splitting, future asphalt stain, friends nearly takes off my side mirror at 70MPH while I crawl through rush-hour traffic.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Yeah, lots of motorcyclists are simply suicidal, no other way to put it. I can't change the way they drive, though. And my side mirror is the least of my worries when lives are at stake.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Yalls names, profile pics, and conversation make you seem like life long enemies

by Lucky_Channel 1 year ago

He's my duplicate from the mirror universe. I just forgot which of us came from the evil side.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

After driving down the highway and passing an accident on the other side, where literally as I drove by a large Yukon was literally upside down in the air... Yeah this is definitely something I consider 90% of the time I drive

by Anonymous 1 year ago

"Cutting vegetables is so common that we don't give enough attention to the fact that we are wielding lethal weapons." People see cars as what they are, not what they can be. Anything can kill in the right circumstances, but we tend to view things through what we use them for, not what their potential for danger is. In the same way, a concert can be viewed as a massive crushing of people, but they are just a fun experience because that is their express purpose

by Anonymous 1 year ago

yeah I never really liked calling them death machines. that's not what they're for! they just happen to be really dangerous and heavily overused and taken for granted by the majority of the country

by boehmanahi 1 year ago

2 tons? Those are baby numbers right there, gotta get a 3 ton suv to stay safe

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Spoken like someone who has never ridden a motorcycle.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

I used to be a driving instructor. When I had trouble with a learner driver being too cocky (sorry usually young men), I used to point out this very fact. E.g. you are driving a 2 ton weapon. Usually it seemed to work and they would calm down and act more responsible. Unfortunately, sometimes not for long.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

I start to consider moving closer to work to avoid driving. Hella expensive tho. I don't even need to remind myself how dangerous driving is, people on the road remind me of that every few minutes.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

People just inherently can't appropriately prioritize their fears, even when acknowledging the facts. Humans are wired to fear scenarios, not statistics, and become desensitized to things that are commonplace regardless of their danger. Like people who have a fear of flying know that the drive to the airport is thousands of times more dangerous than the flight they're taking, but it doesn't change the way their brain behaves.

by jonashilpert 1 year ago

85th on per capita death rate, and 187th (almost at the very end of the list) on death rate per billion km driven. Learn to analyze data. US drivers and roads are among the very safest in the entire world. The reason we have one of the highest total traffic related fatalities is simply because we have so many people driving cars.

by Ok-Sleep 1 year ago

I think you are misunderstanding the sort order of the table? US is 187th of 191 countries in ascending order of number of deaths per billion km. It is 5th when sorting in descending order of number of deaths, i.e. it has the 5th highest number.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Actually, you're correct. I missed that. However, do note that only 24 nations have data in that column at all. If the other nations on the list had data to report, I suspect that the US would be fairly average at worst in that column as well. As for total deaths, that's not a number that can be directly compared. To use an extreme example to make it more obvious, if you take a nation of 100 people and 5 of them die in a car crash.. 5% of the nation has died, but the nation has only suffered 5 total deaths. The US has a lot more deaths than other countries on the list - but it's also a great deal larger than other countries with a population that is generally much larger (single states in the US are often comparable to whole countries elsewhere). Driving is also much more common in the US than in other countries, as we tend to be more reliant on cars for everyday life. More driving would lead to more deaths from driving, meaning a higher total. That doesn't inherently mean that driving is more dangerous there than it is elsewhere though.

by Ok-Sleep 1 year ago

Part of my philosophy on driving safely is that I'm piloting a few thousand pounds of metal at a speed that people have never traveled before roughly a century ago. The least I can do is constantly pay attention.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Plus most are carrying about 100 lbs of high explosives that can ignite with a single spark.

by Fun_Plastic 1 year ago

I feel blessed to have driven for UPS for 2 years. They make you memorize, literally word for word, 2 pages of rules for defensive driving, and I think that is why I drive defensively as a result.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Considering an SUV hit me on my bicycle the other day because they didn't check their blind spot before turning right, I'd consider that highly accurate.

by Bashirianchrist 1 year ago

Especially the people who treat it as an extreme sport.

by Jbrekke 1 year ago

As a city planner I actually think about this constantly.

by Much_Gur 1 year ago

Don't blame the machine for the unpredictable ape behind it.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

And they kill forty thousand people per year. In America alone

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Speak for yourself. Anyone who's been in a serious car accident is never going to forget.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

I doubt most people's cars weight 2 tons. Probably not even the big Ford trucks

by Anonymous 1 year ago

It's a travel machine. Death is a bonus side effect.

by Ahmadanderson 1 year ago

Unless you're a truck driver. Then you're driving 40 TON death machines.

by Electronic-Pie 1 year ago

Since we need to be reminded let's rename them that, "2 ton death machine." I'm sure they'll sell better…

by Anonymous 1 year ago

This is why I have driving anxiety. I cannot drive on an interstate and hate being a passenger. These are metal death boxes flying down the road at 80 mph with hardly any space to the sides and people riding your ass too close. It's terrifying.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

I don't think most people think of them as death machines

by Individual_Bag2974 1 year ago

Kinda his point.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

It shouldn't be a death machine if you and the drivers around you follow the rules.

by Putrid-Addendum-238 1 year ago

Oh, I HAVE! I didn't drive until I was 18.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Yeah no trust me. Plenty of people realize it. Myself included. Its just that a lot of people don't too.

by AromaticAd 1 year ago