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There most be some relation to firearms in the following WSJ commentary.
COMMENTARY
Road Warriors
By BROCK YATES
Orange alert: American drivers are demented, speed-crazed, food-swilling, cellphone-gabbing, lane-jumping, road-raging sociopaths. Forget those Middle Eastern loonies; you face a greater threat from the guy next to you on the freeway in that Chevy Malibu. Any moment now he's likely to punch the throttle, take a bite of an unwrapped Twinkie, hit some numbers on his Nokia, toss you the bird and bunt you into the tall grass.
As if you didn't think driving is dangerous enough, now we get word from the American Automobile Association and other safety groups that a poll they recently conducted affirms our fears. Seizing on the confessions of motorists, the survey indicates that more than 70% admitted they drove over the posted limits (a ludicrous figure; I'm betting it's closer to 98%); 59% noshed while driving; 37% used a cellphone; 28% scorned seat belts; 26% didn't bother with turn signals; and 14% engaged in light reading while at the wheel. Couple these amazing mea culpas with endless revelations about road rage (which includes the mini-culpa of running yellow lights) and it would seem that our highways have become scenes of driving stunts and demolition derby antics that make "2Fast and 2Furious" look like a pastoral snooze.
Now comes word via hysterical headline writers and newscasters that traffic deaths last year were the highest since 1990. In 2002, 42,850 people died on our roads and byways, an increase of 634 victims over 2001. On the surface, this frightful toll ought to prompt citizens to suit up like Nascar drivers and cower in the slow lane.
But let us pause to calm our palpitations. For openers, the road-death rate remains constant at 1.51 deaths per hundred million miles driven. That is a hundred million miles between each traffic death. Moreover, the toll includes jaywalkers, motorcyclists, bike riders, truckers and farm-implement drivers. Many of the victims were drunk or drug-impaired (although statistics are murky). Many were very young (16-18) or very old (75+) and no one has any idea how many were suicides. Add to that the fact that while 634 more people died in 2002, the public rolled out 48 billion more miles -- many of which took place in rain, fog, blizzards and other meteorological delights.
Toss out the heavy breathing by the safety lobby and the ambulance chasers and legalized bunko artists who profited mightily in such alleged disasters as the Audi 5000 "unintended acceleration" and the Ford-Firestone rollovers (both of which involved egregious driver errors) and we have a non-issue here.
To be sure, the loss of 42,000 citizens is a tragedy, but considering the masses of kinetic energy and tonnage unleashed on the highways each day by more than 200 million motor vehicles, we're dealing with a miracle that the number is so low. Yes, Americans may abuse laws of common sense at the wheel, but their ability to navigate between pillar and post without crashing ought to be lauded, not criticized.
Driving or riding in a modern, well-maintained car with seat belts hooked, minus drugs and alcohol, paying attention to the driving environment and employing a modicum of courtesy, your chances of arriving safely are better than navigating your bathtub.
"Can you hear me now?"
Mr. Yates is editor at large of Car and Driver magazine.
COMMENTARY
Road Warriors
By BROCK YATES
Orange alert: American drivers are demented, speed-crazed, food-swilling, cellphone-gabbing, lane-jumping, road-raging sociopaths. Forget those Middle Eastern loonies; you face a greater threat from the guy next to you on the freeway in that Chevy Malibu. Any moment now he's likely to punch the throttle, take a bite of an unwrapped Twinkie, hit some numbers on his Nokia, toss you the bird and bunt you into the tall grass.
As if you didn't think driving is dangerous enough, now we get word from the American Automobile Association and other safety groups that a poll they recently conducted affirms our fears. Seizing on the confessions of motorists, the survey indicates that more than 70% admitted they drove over the posted limits (a ludicrous figure; I'm betting it's closer to 98%); 59% noshed while driving; 37% used a cellphone; 28% scorned seat belts; 26% didn't bother with turn signals; and 14% engaged in light reading while at the wheel. Couple these amazing mea culpas with endless revelations about road rage (which includes the mini-culpa of running yellow lights) and it would seem that our highways have become scenes of driving stunts and demolition derby antics that make "2Fast and 2Furious" look like a pastoral snooze.
Now comes word via hysterical headline writers and newscasters that traffic deaths last year were the highest since 1990. In 2002, 42,850 people died on our roads and byways, an increase of 634 victims over 2001. On the surface, this frightful toll ought to prompt citizens to suit up like Nascar drivers and cower in the slow lane.
But let us pause to calm our palpitations. For openers, the road-death rate remains constant at 1.51 deaths per hundred million miles driven. That is a hundred million miles between each traffic death. Moreover, the toll includes jaywalkers, motorcyclists, bike riders, truckers and farm-implement drivers. Many of the victims were drunk or drug-impaired (although statistics are murky). Many were very young (16-18) or very old (75+) and no one has any idea how many were suicides. Add to that the fact that while 634 more people died in 2002, the public rolled out 48 billion more miles -- many of which took place in rain, fog, blizzards and other meteorological delights.
Toss out the heavy breathing by the safety lobby and the ambulance chasers and legalized bunko artists who profited mightily in such alleged disasters as the Audi 5000 "unintended acceleration" and the Ford-Firestone rollovers (both of which involved egregious driver errors) and we have a non-issue here.
To be sure, the loss of 42,000 citizens is a tragedy, but considering the masses of kinetic energy and tonnage unleashed on the highways each day by more than 200 million motor vehicles, we're dealing with a miracle that the number is so low. Yes, Americans may abuse laws of common sense at the wheel, but their ability to navigate between pillar and post without crashing ought to be lauded, not criticized.
Driving or riding in a modern, well-maintained car with seat belts hooked, minus drugs and alcohol, paying attention to the driving environment and employing a modicum of courtesy, your chances of arriving safely are better than navigating your bathtub.
"Can you hear me now?"
Mr. Yates is editor at large of Car and Driver magazine.