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Comment by jdnenej | Hacker News Reader

How many deaths per year do we tolerate before deciding cars were a mistake?

It's a good question. Wikipedia tells me that the rate of deaths per 100K vehicles is about 14 in the US. As a point of comparison, selling raw, unpasteurised milk is prohibited in most UK states. It has a death rate of about 1 per million drinkers.

Of course laws are not always rational, but somewhere in there someone has decided that the death toll/benefit trade off for cars is worth it and for raw milk is not. It might be surprising, but I actually would rather have it the other way around, but I think there is considerable room for reasonable disagreement.

At least this many.

There are ~12k/year deaths from falling down stairs, in the US alone. I guess "ranch style" houses from now on, and no basements.

Sustainable and clean public transportation does not stroke people's egos like owning a car.

You would also need to factor in how many deaths per year are avoided because of cars. I'm thinking specifically of emergency vehicles (ambulances, police cars, etc) but I'm sure other the argument can be made for other vehicles as well.

No one advocating against cars thinks emergency vehicles should be removed. Emergency vehicles would be aided by the removal of cars from streets since pedestrians and cyclists are able to clear the space easily for emergency vehicles unlike a road full of cars.

All of them.

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