I know I know, I babble on about this a lot… Still, I thought this article was really quite interesting.
Specifically this point:
During the same period, the Dutch have reduced their fatalities from 3200 to 800. If we calculate out the rate per 1000 people, the Dutch fatality rate is 40% of the American rate. This is remarkable, particularly when one considers that in 1975, their fatality rate was 20% higher than the US rate!
If we in American had achieved a similar reduction in fatality rates, our annual fatalities would drop to just under 15,000 a year – 22,000 less deaths than we currently experience. This means that every six weeks, we could save as many lives as were lost in 9/11! America has been motivated to spend tens of billions of dollars to redress the lives lost in 9/11, and sacrificed many personal freedoms to boot.
This dramatic savings of lives should be a focus of the next federal transportation bill. Congress, transportation advocacy and our communities all agree that the American transportation system has lost its way, and has no overarching message that excites our citizenry in the way that Interstate system did in the 1950s. Annually saving 7 times the lives lost in 9/11 could be the new focus.
I know a lot of this stuff can seem fuzzy and unimportant. But it really is very important and it goes to the very way we will live our lives and the types of communities we will live in in the future. It also goes to sustainability and the environment. Just getting higher miles per gallon, while a good thing, just begins to scratch the surface of the environmental impact of cars. Ultimately we are going to have to do much more.