Let's phrase it differently. Suppose you have a button. If you press it you can save a total of just under 5 days over your lifetime of driving, but there's a ~1.5% chance somebody instantly dies. Do you press the button?
I think most people make that choice because they don't understand how dangerous their actions are, not because they think that's an acceptable return on investment (and in that sense, you're probably right that "violence" isn't quite the right word), but the fact remains that we have a system where pedestrians can't feel safe crossing the road at a crosswalk at a stop sign in front of a stopped car, and almost all pedestrian deaths would be prevented by just not breaking traffic laws or otherwise driving recklessly. I definitely think "accident" cuts too strongly in the other direction.
A brief reminder just in case anyone reading doesn't know yet and will change their driving behavior positively in response:
- Blowing through stop signs kills people (if you don't have enough visibility, stop first and _then_ pull forward)
- Speeding drastically increases the chance of killing pedestrians you hit; please at least slow down in residential areas?
Let's phrase it differently. Suppose you have a button. If you press it you can save a total of just under 5 days over your lifetime of driving, but there's a ~1.5% chance somebody instantly dies. Do you press the button?
I think most people make that choice because they don't understand how dangerous their actions are, not because they think that's an acceptable return on investment (and in that sense, you're probably right that "violence" isn't quite the right word), but the fact remains that we have a system where pedestrians can't feel safe crossing the road at a crosswalk at a stop sign in front of a stopped car, and almost all pedestrian deaths would be prevented by just not breaking traffic laws or otherwise driving recklessly. I definitely think "accident" cuts too strongly in the other direction.
A brief reminder just in case anyone reading doesn't know yet and will change their driving behavior positively in response:
- Blowing through stop signs kills people (if you don't have enough visibility, stop first and _then_ pull forward)
- Speeding drastically increases the chance of killing pedestrians you hit; please at least slow down in residential areas?
- Tailgating kills people
- Texting while driving kills people