Carnage on America's Highways?

[Wezil]

Originally posted by Zkribbler



There's all kinds of rules and regulations about how much rest truck drivers must take, about their breaks, etc. Unfortunately, they don't get paid for not driving, so lots of the rules get ignored.

The punishments for driving in violation of the HOS regs can be tough.

Yes, drivers violate the rules (my clients) but the vast majority do not. The actual cases of duplicate and/or fraudulent logs are few. Most instances are logistical screwups.

The crazy trucker hopped up on meth is a stereotype.

[Arrian]

Originally posted by DanS


Surprisingly, this is not true at all.

Really? I figured it almost has to be. I didn't consider the Channel Tunnel at all, though.

...

As for the rest... whatever the actual mileage figures are, I still think Americans drive quite a bit more than Brits - though I'd be interested in some statistics on that if you have any.

I personally average roughly 20k per year and I live in New England (small states, relatively high population density). I would expect higher numbers elsewhere.

As for traffic, sure the UK has it. From my experience, it's pretty comparable to the NE corridor and other high-density areas in the US (Los Angeles, Chicago, etc). I would imagine it is a factor in the accident rates (certainly for fender-benders) but I don't know how it fits in with other factors.

-Arrian

[Cranky]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fg9f93gpfbo&mode=related&search=

[DanS]

Originally posted by Arrian
Really? I figured it almost has to be. I didn't consider the Channel Tunnel at all, though.

Freight rail is big in the US, but not in Europe.

[DaShi]

Nothing beats Hangzhou taxi drivers, or at least used to. I remember them going on sidewalks to go around red lights.

The government eventually cracked down on it so it's a lot better. However, on average, I'd see about an accident a day during my travels to and from work.

[rah]

Based on this site, on a survey compiled in 2005

http://www.directline.com/about_us/news_300605.htm

It shows the average miles driven in the UK to be around 9600.

For the US, the info seems to be scattered but from the 15 or 20 sites I looked at it seemed to be somewhere between 12000 to 14500. Depending on what you included and who you listen to.

So saying that American drive on the average 20-50% more is probably close. Or as close as lying statistics can judge. More, but not as much more as I would have thought.

[Arrian]

I figured it would be somewhere between 1.5 and 2x the amount UK drivers drive. Apparently it's more like 1.2-1.5.

I still think there are other factors beyond driving ability. More trouble with drunk drivers, as was mentioned earlier in the thread, could be a factor, for instance (if that's actually so). Also, with regard to the recent upswing, poor urban design wrt pedestrians is one possible factor, as is the lack of motorcycle helmet laws in many states (forgive the assumption, but surely the UK requires helmets?).

-Arrian

[Provost Harrison]

But that doesn't explain why you have such a huge number more accidents though - it is out of proportion with that figure

[rah]

Well DUH. We thought we could easily explain it away by saying we drove 3 times as many miles, but since that doesn't seem to be the case, we're scrambling for other posible excuses.

I'd consider age of car fleets, age of drivers, condition of roads most highly travelled, or maybe we're just worse drivers.

[Arrian]

Um, yes it is, which is the point of the second half of my post. Even if we drive 1.5x as much, we still have more fatalities relative to population. Factor in things like more drunk drivers (if true), lack of motorcycle helmet laws, and other such things (I dunno, more SUVs?) and you may have explained the gap.

The idea that somehow UK drivers so much better than USians that their superiority would explain the disparity in fatalities strikes me as silly. Which, of course, is why MOBIUS made the argument in the first place.

Drivers here are crappy, make no mistake. But there is more to it. Further, having been to the UK on multiple occasions, I don't have the impression that drivers over there are so much better.

edit: driving conditions are conceiveably another factor... more snow/ice over here, wouldn't you say?

-Arrian

[Provost Harrison]

It is quite an interesting question...I am tempted to say the latter, but most of our drivers seem to be utter idiots too so that wouldn't explain it

[rah]

It might be as simple as the number of bad winter storms. The UK does not get anywhere near the amount of snow that the northern US gets. When it snows heavy in Chicago, they tell you don't even bother calling the police if you're in an accident and nobody is hurt. Call back in a few days. There will be thousands of accidents in the city anytime it snows over 6 inches.

[Fake Boris]

Originally posted by rah
Based on this site, on a survey compiled in 2005

http://www.directline.com/about_us/news_300605.htm

It shows the average miles driven in the UK to be around 9600.

For the US, the info seems to be scattered but from the 15 or 20 sites I looked at it seemed to be somewhere between 12000 to 14500. Depending on what you included and who you listen to.

So saying that American drive on the average 20-50% more is probably close. Or as close as lying statistics can judge. More, but not as much more as I would have thought.

I read the link, and it talks about UK motorists. You probably need to factor in the higher number of cars (and incidentally motorists) in the US.

[Provost Harrison]

Originally posted by rah
It might be as simple as the number of bad winter storms. The UK does not get anywhere near the amount of snow that the northern US gets. When it snows heavy in Chicago, they tell you don't even bother calling the police if you're in an accident and nobody is hurt. Call back in a few days. There will be thousands of accidents in the city anytime it snows over 6 inches.

Same here most of the time. Although that is because the police are sh*t But yes, more extreme weather conditions sound like a major contributory factor. Despite how the British moan about the weather, there is rarely anything around that does worse than mess up your hairdo

[rah]

Oncle Boris,

That's why I had such a big range for US drivers. It was hard to get an apples to apples comparison. This obviously didn't include big rig miles, which could heavily slant the numbers. (and would have a large impact I believe since truck accidents are more likely to produce fatalities)