Automatic braking systems save lives. Now they’ll need to work at 62 MPH

With all this added tech and safety systems, why is per capita traffic deaths rising since 2018 and the highest since 2009?

Is all the added expense and impact on the environment worth it? Is the cost ever a concern in these mandates?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_vehicle_fatality_rate_...

Found this for you: https://stateline.org/2023/11/10/less-driving-but-more-death...

Basically, law enforcement switched from enforcing traffic laws to automated detriments like traffic cameras that don't have the same prevention effects

Fancy cars will never solve the underlying issues of massive automobile dependency (no matter how snazzy and how big their touchscreens are). The only solution to this scourge is fewer cars, or to put it more accurately: ensuring there are viable alternatives to driving.

More cars. Less training. More distraction. More anxiety. ?

Interesting, thx. The UK which supposedly has world leading road safety, traffic deaths have been flat since 2012 (don't see the per capita or per km\mi figures.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reported_Road_Casualties_Great...

Cell phones, distracted drivers

According to the source statistics at gov.uk there has been an 8% increase in vehicle miles but a 5% reduction in deaths over the period 2013–23. Unless you adjust for the increased miles travelled, I would say the stats are just showing annual variability.

Data sources/classifications for injuries are more open to question because, for example, it might be possible for a minor injury to not be included in a police report at the scene while presenting later at a hospital. However, using a consistent basis for the period, Seriously injured are down 10% and Slightly injured down 32%, without adjusting for the increase in miles.

As with any stats, though, you have to understand the detail to draw any conclusions.

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/reported-road-casua...

People have been buying bigger vehicles whose designs are more dangerous to pedestrians, use of phones and dashboard TVs is widely normalized, and the police stopped doing a lot of traffic enforcement so drivers have less fear of being caught driving in safely than they used to.