The Linkedin author responded to my comment:
- respectfully I disagree with you. in car crashes we can hurt others like COVID by selfishly fast driving, distracted driving and ... . also in both of them we can improve safety by social distancing (2-3 seconds rule in driving and 1-2 meters rule in COVID). in both we need to respect rules. wearing mask: wearing seat-belts. social distancing (1-2 meters: 2-3 seconds). stop touching face: stop touching cell-phone.
both of them kills people in low-income countries more than high-income countries.
COVID may end in 1 or 2 years while accidents have been threatening human lives for a long time and will not end. while in the last year both of them killed more than 1.350 millions people you can see the reaction of social media. Since accidents have become routine, no one pays enough attention to it.
Comment:
Your original post was comparing the effects of seat belts use in cars to mask use on COVID and comparing the annual deaths for the two.
Now you have expanded it to include other items related to the two issues: highway/vehicle safety vs. COVID safety.
I agree that more rigorous enforcement of traffic laws and behaviors will further reduce deaths.
In the US many are selfishly resistant to
speed cameras and
red light cameras.
Also increased penalties for speeding and other dangerous vehicle behaviors need to be implemented.
Until these are universally accepted there will be no incentive for revision of driver behaviors.
Here is a comparison of the death rates per hundred million VMT (Vehicle Miles Traveled) for US
And a EU comparison for death rate for population (quick look didn't find per VMT)
There is a downward trend
- US Death per VMT and EU.png (279.93 KiB) Viewed 1377 times
Obviously all countries, including low income countries, need to prioritize highway and vehicle safety to reduce the rate of deaths.
JUst like now all countries need to prioritize and enforce mask mandates to get control on this COVID pandemic.
However comparisons of the deaths for each is not a comparable comparison.
From the chart you see traffic laws and enforcement and vehicle safety improvements have significantly improved the death rate per 100 million Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) in the US. There is also improvements in many other countries worldwide however i agree that there is and will always be a need to further reduce the death rate per 100 million VMT.
So vehicle and highway safety has and always should be a priority. And i agree that more attention needs to be paid to developing low-income countries. Unfortunately with the economic hardships this pandemic has and will continue to have on all countries the lives lost in motor vehicle crashes may not be a high priority, particularly in lower income countries.