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Comment by cjoh | Hacker News Reader

We don't need to ban electronics for drivers. We need to ban drivers from cars. Banning electronics to prevent tragic accidents is like banning cigarette lighters to prevent lung cancer. Our roads are littered with death:

http://map.itoworld.com/road-casualties-usa#

The solution? Self driving cars. I'm convinced that every dime we spend on any transportation-related activity besides the self-driving car is a waste of time. Every year, about 30,000 people die from fatal crashes:

http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov/Main/index.aspx

That's twice the number of people who die of AIDS in any given year:

http://www.avert.org/usa-statistics.htm

Electronics aren't the enemy. Drivers are.

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Alternatively switch from cars to a combination of trains and bicycles.

In much of Europe there's no need to own a car at all. Towns have grown up around railway stations, and shops are close enough to walk/cycle.

The problem in the US seems to be that homes/workplaces have been built up around roads instead of rail infrastructure.

Easy! Make every American move with a self-driving moving van!

That's actually too rosy a picture of the situation in Europe. While indeed many people have no objective need to own a car, most families do own at least one. We might not have quite the ridiculous amount of cars as the Americans, but large parts of Europe are not that far behind. [1]

More importantly - since this discussion is about driver behavior - if you look at traffic deaths per vehicle, per driven kilometer, or even per inhabitant, the US do better than a lot of European countries. [2] I'm sure that the total disregard for the existing bans on cellphones [3] for drivers is a factor here.

Also, regrettably, Europeans are repeating the mistake that I hear some US cities are now regretting: building giant shopping areas outside the city centers, thereby destroying commerce in those centers and worsening the traffic situation. In one particularly megalomaniac example [4] they want to build a giant shopping center right next to one of the busiest roads in Belgium (the ring around Brussels), less than 10km away from several existing and perfectly fine city centers.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_vehicles_p... [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-re... [3] http://www.cellular-news.com/car_bans/ [4] http://www.uplace.eu/Default.aspx?PageID=166&Culture=nl

We need to ban drivers from cars.

Nanny states are borne from thought processes like this.

It doesn't matter that the overwhelming majority of drivers don't get into accidents because of their phones, nor does it matter that eliminating risk from an inherently risky activity such as traveling in a 3000-pound metal object is all but impossible.

Regulations and rules are useful. Banning things outright is ridiculous.

Way to miss the point. He's talking about making drivers obsolete, not banning everybody who doesn't drive perfectly from getting behind the wheel. It's about using technology to improve our lives, not burdening ourselves with bureaucracy.

I'm unconvinced that the rights of 30,000 dead (may they rest in peace) trump the rights of safe, responsible people who enjoy driving themselves.

How about the rights of the safe, responsible people who get killed and maimed because others are drunk, tired, or yakking on the phone?

There's no protected right to drive anywhere in the constitution. That's why you have to get a driver's license, why it can be taken away, and why you can be pulled over. Driving is a privilege, not a right.

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