7 ms·

Wonder how much of this can be tied to the economy getting better and more people buying/driving (used and less safe) cars when they previously couldn't afford

Wonder how much of this can be tied to the economy getting better and more people buying/driving (used and less safe) cars when they previously couldn't afford to.

toomuchtodo 10y ago
Moving 12-Month Total Vehicle Miles Traveled https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/M12MTVUSM227NFWA https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/M12MTVUSM227NFWA
- mirimir 10y ago
  That does seem to correlate, since ~2013.
- sevensor 10y ago
  That's pretty convincing to me -- more miles driven means more driving deaths. Also, it's not clear to me whether the statistic on motor vehicle deaths includes collateral damage: cyclists and pedestrians killed by vehicles. Either way, yikes, cars kill lots of people.
gdulli 10y ago
Also, how much ridership do Zipcar and Uber take away from public transportation since they mostly operate in cities? Uber goes further in that it creates additional driver-miles while drivers are getting to or waiting for passengers.
mkonecny 10y ago
You could also argue the opposite - more of the driving population can now afford safer cars. If had to guess, I would attribute the rise to mobile devices distracting drivers - hence all the campaigns to stop texting+driving.
dmix 10y ago
Gas prices also went down.
iak8god 10y ago
What about sharply falling gasoline prices? https://energy.gov/eere/vehicles/fact-915-march-7-2016-average-historical-annual-gasoline-pump-price-1929-2015 https://energy.gov/eere/vehicles/fact-915-march-7-2016-avera...
Someone 10y ago
Reading http://www.nsc.org/NewsDocuments/2017/12-month-estimates.pdf http://www.nsc.org/NewsDocuments/2017/12-month-estimates.pdf, half the increase is due to an increase in vehicle miles travelled, which went up because the USA is coming out of a recession.
- iak8god 10y ago
  The last recession in the US ended officially ended in 2009. I know the recovery has arguably been sluggish and uneven, but it doesn't seem like the slow & steadily rising GDP over an eight year span should explain much of this shorter-term jump in vehicular deaths.

Wonder how much of this can be tied to the economy getting better and more people buying/driving (used and less safe) cars when they previously couldn't afford to.

toomuchtodo 10y ago

Moving 12-Month Total Vehicle Miles Traveled https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/M12MTVUSM227NFWA https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/M12MTVUSM227NFWA

mirimir 10y ago
That does seem to correlate, since ~2013.
sevensor 10y ago
That's pretty convincing to me -- more miles driven means more driving deaths. Also, it's not clear to me whether the statistic on motor vehicle deaths includes collateral damage: cyclists and pedestrians killed by vehicles. Either way, yikes, cars kill lots of people.

gdulli 10y ago

Also, how much ridership do Zipcar and Uber take away from public transportation since they mostly operate in cities? Uber goes further in that it creates additional driver-miles while drivers are getting to or waiting for passengers.

mkonecny 10y ago

You could also argue the opposite - more of the driving population can now afford safer cars. If had to guess, I would attribute the rise to mobile devices distracting drivers - hence all the campaigns to stop texting+driving.

dmix 10y ago

Gas prices also went down.

iak8god 10y ago

What about sharply falling gasoline prices? https://energy.gov/eere/vehicles/fact-915-march-7-2016-average-historical-annual-gasoline-pump-price-1929-2015 https://energy.gov/eere/vehicles/fact-915-march-7-2016-avera...

Someone 10y ago

Reading http://www.nsc.org/NewsDocuments/2017/12-month-estimates.pdf http://www.nsc.org/NewsDocuments/2017/12-month-estimates.pdf, half the increase is due to an increase in vehicle miles travelled, which went up because the USA is coming out of a recession.

iak8god 10y ago
The last recession in the US ended officially ended in 2009. I know the recovery has arguably been sluggish and uneven, but it doesn't seem like the slow & steadily rising GDP over an eight year span should explain much of this shorter-term jump in vehicular deaths.