Driven to distraction

RE: the US/UK difference in fatality rates -- Demographics is everything: young people cause the most crashes and not nearly as many young people in Europe can afford to own and drive cars. Control for age and fatalities per million vehicle miles balance out in the other age brackets.

The only real 'solution' to distracted driving is to start building an America where we don't have to drive everywhere. Get people out from behind the wheel. Cars are inherently dangerous and Americans are forced to use them far, far too often.

Personally, I'm willing to take a fractional increase in a small chance of death for the convenience of my sister being able to call me to tell me her car broke down in another part of the city while I'm on the road. I realize some people use their phones for trivial matters while driving, but almost every phone call I give or take is brief and with a purpose (someone calling me on the way to an appointment to let me know they are not going to be there, for example).

I realize that there are two parties in the interaction, myself and the other drivers I may effect should I get into an accident. But were the effects of an accident limited solely to me, I am sure that the utility I get from being able to coordinate with others while on the road is greater than the cost of a marginal increase in the chance of an accident.