Hacker News Reader

We could easily make cars way, way safer - put a giant, sharp spike sticking out of the center of the steering wheel, pointed at the driver's heart, and forbid seatbelts. Nobody would ever go over 5mph, or put themselves at risk of crashing into anything.

View on HN

This is one of the better comments I've seen lately - perfect execution of the "take the parent post's example to an absurd, irrelevant extreme and say Q.E.D."-style comment that seems to be all the rage around here lately. Love it, A+!

You have completely botched this example. This example is useful to explain why airbags increase collisions. Putting a spear in cars would not make cars safer.

I don't understand your objection. Do you see a meaningful distinction between "cars are safer" and "cars are driven more safely"?

There is a major difference. The number of traffic accidents did not change significantly from 1990 to 2009, but the number of deaths from traffic accidents dropped 23%[1]. This is most likely due to cars being built in a way so that their passengers are more likely to survive accidents.

[1]: http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2012/tables/12s1103.p...

Reply on news.ycombinator.com