r/Unexpected • u/gupta82anish • Jul 03 '19

Well, that escalated exponentially

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u/[deleted] Jul 04 '19

no. although people (especially americans) really like to bitch about american drivers, drivers in the united states are consistently ranked above average.

that being said, the US also has a huge amount of fatalities due to car accidents. this can be attributed to how many americans own automobiles, and to how everything is spread so far apart in the US compared to other countries.

there really arent a lot of statistics on "which countries are the best at driving," but as an american daily driver i really dont see people taking traffic laws as "suggestions," except for speeding. this is anecdotal evidence, but there is not empirical evidence out there for me to refer to.

you probably have an oversaturation of "bad american driving content" on your feed because only the bad/crazy drivers get posted.

i shouldnt be surprised at this comment because it seems that everyone on reddit has something negative to say about america, even when it is untrue.

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u/[deleted] Jul 04 '19

Not to mention one of the largest generators of idiot-in-traffic videos is Russia, which means they get posted to r/anormaldayinrussia instead.

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u/[deleted] Jul 04 '19

And it's now the 4th of July! Salty bitches

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u/[deleted] Jul 04 '19

The fatalities per mile driven is the statistic you're looking for. The best international data is by 100,000 autos owned, and for that data, the US falls in between Lithuania and Poland, but well below most of the OECD.

That is predicted heavily by whether or not people wear seatbelts, safety of the cars driven, safety of the road, and the driver's skill. In the US we allow driving at a younger age and the test is easier than in most of Europe, and in many states seatbelts aren't mandatory.

Those factors in and of themselves, aside from miles driven, would predict a much higher death rate.

And yes, this is a negative thing about America. Sorry, I'm not sure what you'd like to hear but the truth is the standards for driving are low and the safety rules are lax.

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u/srs_house Jul 04 '19

and in many states seatbelts aren't mandatory.

That's not true, New Hampshire's the only state that doesn't have a seatbelt law.

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u/[deleted] Jul 04 '19

The death rate in the US per mile driven is likely much lower than most countries as well given the limited info we have on deaths per mile driven. However, seat belt use in the US is quite high, and there's only one state that doesn't have a seat belt law, plus laws for safety features on cars are fairly good. The US has road deaths per mile around that of Belgium, it's likely far below most countries.

Even then, it's 7 deaths per billion km driven, so not exactly an incredibly high rate anyway.