> We are hardly living in a golden age of safety for kids—during the pandemic, there was a spike in crime, especially gun violence. But a big part of why gun violence became the biggest cause of deaths of people under 18 is partially because they were a lot less likely to die from other causes, notably motor vehicle accidents:

Well, that’s an excellent point. Our cars have become so good at crumpling to protect us that the old crash test videos that leaked to tv news in the 90s seem archaic by comparison. I remember many of them showed the dummies falling out of the cars when they slammed into a wall and shocked everyone.

My father took me to a junkyard to see all the windshields that people had smashed into to emphasize why I should wear a seatbelt. Now the car will basically sacrifice itself to absorb the shock as much as possible. Plus airbags are everywhere and rearview cameras are in all new cars.

I frequently think about how these days you can get shot anywhere in the USA. It was nice being reminded that I have very little fear of dying in an auto crash. And though many people drunk drive every day, societal tolerance for it is at an all time low.