Date: Wed, 3 Nov 2004 09:41:57 PST From: mojavegnospamveg.iwvisp.com (Everett M. Greene) Subject: Re: Do You Have A Glove Box?
th <someguynospamwhere.se> writes: > We had a similar discussion about this topic last year IIRC, where I > tried to show that traffic accident statistics clearly indicate that the > Swedish model leads to significantly lower fatal accident rates. Both > Saab and Volvo live in this climate of what we call "zero vision", i.e. > there shall be no persons killed in traffic accidents. This vision > affects both the design of roads as well as the design of the cars. In > real traffic situations the Saab 9-5 is the safest car all categories > (maybe except for those driving around in a tank or something similar). > > NHTSA doesn't seem to care very much about the US public as several of > their recommendations are clearly influenced by strong industrial and > political interests, instead of what seems to be best from a scientific > point of view. Maybe this statement is somewhat strong, but it is > strange to see how obviously incorrect recommendations appear from a > public department. > > It is a big difference in having "the goal of reducing fatalities and > injuries on our nationís roads and highways" (from NHTSA web site, quite > difficult to find a clear vision somewhere) compared with "Sweden¥s > long-term road safety goal is that there should be no fatalities or > serious injuries in road traffic. This goal was approved by the Swedish > Parliament in 1997 and is based on the 'Vision Zero' program" (from the > Swedish Road Administration web site) Without getting into a heated discussion about who influences what, where, and how, there would be seem to be a point of diminishing returns where it becomes unacceptably expensive to prevent the last accident/injury/fatality/whatever. We are all mortal, so applying infinite resources will not ever prevent our eventual deaths. If we apply sufficient resources, we can all die healthy, though.