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Comment by atlasunshrugged | Hacker News Reader

One thing I'm a little surprised not to see in the article is any discussion of distracted driving. While I think in the EU cars are slightly smaller on average, there are still plenty of larger vehicles on the road but relatively fewer deaths. The only thesis I have as to the potential disconnect is that in the EU there are far more stick shift operated vehicles which demand more attention and limbs to operate as compared to American vehicles which skew heavily automatic, making it much easier to doomscroll twitter or try to respond to a text.

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The cars are much smaller, trucks are almost unheard-of.

I think the less car friendly streets is a bigger contributor, drivers have to pay attention more vs blind driving based solely on a traffic light.

Try getting a conviction for drunk driving or vehicular manslaughter in US. The case will go to a jury, and the jury members will consider that none of them can drive either. So the perp will be let off. In EU you are looking at 5 - 8 years prison for first-time offenders, that encourages caution.

It boggles my mind that driver attentiveness nags are being required when driver assist features are _enabled_ instead of _disabled_. When you are most likely to commit manslaughter, the car (and the regulatory bodies making the policies) don't care if you're paying attention or not.

Yes all the lane keeping, auto braking, collision warning stuff could well be making some drivers feel safer trying to "send a quick text" or "just check my notifications" or (as we've seen in some "autopilot" accidents) reading a book.

> there are far more stick shift operated vehicles which demand more attention

This is such a plausible explanation I'm going to steal it. I do wonder if this is exactly the difference.

Yes it is much harder to drive a stick and fiddle with your phone at the same time, at least in town. On the open road once you're up to speed there's not much difference.

With shifting you also need to thing in advance.

On the other hand there are still people texting while driving here (usually in traffic jam).

Americans drive more miles than people in the EU.

If I recall correctly, the average American drives around 2X more miles per year than people in the EU. The country is big. Things are far away.

If you look at a state like Wyoming where everything is very far away the average person might drive 4X more miles.

More miles means more accidents.

Speeds are also higher in many places in the US, which is related to the fact that everything is farther apart.

Yes, but in Wyoming you’re more likely to have a single-vehicle crash, hit another vehicle maybe or hit an animal. In American cities there is greater danger to pedestrians and cyclists.

The EU takes speed limits more seriously than the US.

I drove 1700 miles on French interstate highways. I think the posted limit was like 120 or 130 kph. I went 10 over and cars were flying past me.

I never saw a cop over that week. And cars had great manners with everyone in the right lane except when passing.

But at least in France I get the sense that the speed limit isn’t followed closely.

> But at least in France I get the sense that the speed limit isn’t followed closely

This is correct. The speed limit is 130kph. You don't risk very much by driving (reasonably) above the speed limit. 140-150kph on a highway is quite common. If no traffic by night, I consider myself pretty safe at 160kph. There is some automated speed control, but it's indicated by signs. That being said, I think people drive more slowly than what they use too

On the other hand, my experience in the US is that people are much more abiding of the speed limits, and I often see cops on the side of the road, and they do chase and catch people! (amusing to see as a foreigner).

People in the US are also more civil and patient and don't honk nearly is much, which is great.

EDIT: https://www.groupama.fr/assurance-auto/conseils/amende-exces...

29km/h above the speed limit is only a 65 euros fine.

The USA is a huge country, so it’s not weird that your experience on speed checks in the states is completely different from mine.

That's roughly 75 - 80 mph. Which is the average posted speed limit on US interstates.

According to wikipedia

> The maximum speed limit on Interstate Highways is 75 mph (121 km/h). This limit may be applied outside of "urbanized areas", where speeds of over 85 mph (137 km/h) on any highway (regardless of the posted speed limit) is considered a criminal (rather than civil) offense.

Yes. My comment wasn’t on the level, but responding to “people in Europe follow the speed limit more than the US.”

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