reohn2 wrote:Mike Sales wrote:Advertising and the properties, handling of cars can certainly exacerbate regrettable tendencies in some drivers. Ones like you who have the insight to behave well are less common than need be.
I disagree that responsible drivers are 'less common' or are a minority group,IME the minority group are the idiot irresponsible driversSomething does need to be changed, whether law enforcement, cars, or both.
We have all seen the ads which boast of "handling" which means a car that can go fast round corners, and the accompanying pictures illustrating a car on winding mountain roads.
Irresponsible driver behaviour is governed by what they can get away with,which is governed by a lack of effective policing,which is in turn restricted by bad government that operates on KSI statistics which only tells part of the story.
Government only spends what it can get away with in order to keep taxes low so it can get in office again and repeat the 4 or 5 year cycle.....
We tend to look for a single cause for the single effect we don't care for. "Bad drivers = maiming & injury", for example. Or "low policing = bad drivers".
Of course, there are many factors involved as "cause" and many varieties of egregious outcome. In addition, there is the context in which it all takes place. It's a mare's nest; definitely not a Gordian knot that can be cut through by one clever legislator wielding a single policy, or even a whole bill full.
In short, there is no single magic policy or action that will deal with the problem. Instead, there's a need to gain a deep understanding of a complex multi-faceted phenomenon involving many often obscure factors; and to derive & apply policies at many levels to improve things .... without inducing unintended consequences which are just as bad or worse than the problems we want to solve.
This is the human condition and one reason why utopia is nowhere to be found.
*****
But there is most hope in an analysis that finds causes that are fundamental - at the bottom of things. One cause for the problem of traffic "accidents" is bad drivers. Good luck with trying to fix all those! They're humans and difficult to manage. Another is the nature of the car, road design and law enforcement. A lot could be done to improve all of those.
It could be argued that the roads are fine as they are (bar the potholes) so no need for special cycling-pedestrian aspects .... if cars are made not-so-lethal and traffic police & courts become more draconian.....
Cugel