Makes as much sense as the war on terror. According to official stats, the annual death rate for U.S. drivers hovers around 42,000. So... 9-11 claimed 2750 people. Higher math reveals that 2750 people are killed on the roads every 23 days. So starting today, that means that we ought to go through a national paroxysm of grief and start a new war on November 14th, December 7th (!), December 30, and so on like clockwork. To stop this unspeakable carnage of innocent people we gotta confiscate all the vehicles and deploy the military to make sure that no one violates the no-driving laws. Oh, and 20000 were killed by the common flu last year...
War on terror is bollox to the very core of it. How can anyone declare a war on a method of fighting? How about declaring a war on spying? And how dumb does the public have to be to buy this?
We do have a "war on Traffic"! We have laws and rules and standards in an attempt to limit the number of accidents and deaths due to traffic issues. We've even hired special "soldiers" in uniforms, complete with guns, to "combat" illegal traffic and we've built jails to confine them (and torture them!) when they don't abide by those rules and laws. If that ain't a "War on Traffic", what is? Baron Max
Might I add theres an ongoing vehicle improvement with safety features like improved airbags, antilocking brakes, disc brakes, allwheel traction control, stability control, collision control sensors and crumple zones to name but a few. There's always room for new innovations concerning vehicles so there's always testing to improve things. The problem is that only the highest priced vehicles have all of these safety features so the goal should be to bring the prices down so that all cars can have them available to save more lives for less costs.
Road accidents are one of the top three or four causes of death in certain demographic groups like teenagers. Terrorism isn't even in the top fifty. If you average 2001 in with the four years before and the four years since, terrorism is down there in the "other" category with lightning and bee stings. Household accidents and bad reactions to properly prescribed drugs are major killers.
This is just like the post on household appliances killing people so I'll just repost my statement: First of all, terrorism is an ideological and thus well-calculated human activity and can be prevented or snuffed out using warfare. Household appliance and vehicle related deaths are accidents and can only be prevented through proper usage and luck. Terrorism is something you can attack at the source, accidents can never truly be avoided.
For some reason humans are much more concerned when somebody is doing deliberate harm than when several people are doing more harm through reckless negligence.
Well, actualy cutting down on high-way and suface street traffic would require public works projects - and come on, isn't that just Communism under another name? You wanna' talk about free rides, well here's the real deal!
The traffic terrorists... they're are as hard to find to as Osama Bin Hiding. No matter how much money you spend. - Shifty Russian www.WhoMakesYouSick.com
So you don't consider anyone who might have aided in that attack as accomplices in the crime? ...just the ones who actually commited the act are the only suspects? And do you feel the same way about the "torture" at Abu Gharid prison in the same way? ...that only the few who actually did the acts are guilty? I seem to recall you feeling a bit different in that event. Baron Max
That depends on ones perspective, doesn't it? And the same could be asked about auto manufacturers and police forces, etc. If cars were build like tanks and could only go ten miles per hour, we'd not have so many deadly accidents. If there was one cop following/protecting each citizen, then we'd not likely have so many murders, assualts. Baron Max
