400, 000 dead!

[Gromit]

400, 000 every year. The cause is not Terrorism, Wars in the Middle East, AIDS or giant Tsunami. The culprit is ... the car.

Traffic injuries are the leading cause of death in people ages 10 to 24 around the world -- a huge, overlooked and largely preventable public health problem, the World Health Organization said yesterday.

About 30 percent of all traffic deaths worldwide -- roughly 400,000 each year -- are of people younger than 25.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/a rticle/2007/04/19/AR2007041902409.html?hpid=mo reheadlines

Yet we are not really bothered are we?

[MrBen5]

Hmmm, but how many of those are in undeveloped countries or in the middle east?

[Gromit]

A lot, does that matter?

[MrBen5]

Erm, well yeah. If you look at places like India for example. Can you imagine roads like that in England?
If you looked at the statistics, (not meaning to sound cruel) but i bet at least 25% of the figures are from the less educated countries.
Also, over here i can go to certain areas where certain minoroties live and i can totally understand why there are accidents. they just walk out into the road.
The answer from the original question is Are we really bothered? I suspect the answer depends on how much you value your life...

[brionon]

And Judges and Juries and Lawyers are all Car owners. So if you want to kill someone use a Car, but be prepared to lose your licence for several weeks and for a very painful slap on your wrist.

[youngmafbog]

Gromit, for once I agree with you.

However it is unlikely this will ever be sorted. After all the best way to start sorting this out is 1) Education and b) an intelligence test for drivers.

Will it happen - NO

[willowman]

3000 people killed on UK roads every year, MrBen5.

Imagine the outcry if 10 passenger planes crashed each year killing 300 passengers per time. The public would demand action, yet as Gromit says, we accept this level of slaughter on the roads.

crazy, or what?

[manxbiker]

Here is another statistic for you bought out by the UK goverment 169 Motorcyclists are killed on the road for every Billion Miles (and that is not a mistype it is BILLION) traveled surely that is not that many but you can twist statistics anyway you want

[Arthur-G]

That poem posted by infundibulum is indeed by Ogden Nash, I also studied it at school. The title is "Beat that Light". I have been looking for the full text for ages, so thank you. Here is another of Nash's verses.

I think that I shall never see
A billboard lovely as a tree.
In fact, unless the billboards fall,
I'll never see a tree at all!