Don, thanks so much for the publishing assistance, as well as your thought on these matters. To your point about an auditorium full of people, I’d mention here once again that this thread is never read by a single, solitary member of my family, nor by any of my friends.
And that’s no slight against them – everyone’s in a different place, everyone’s into different things. But it’s instructive, I think. If one has made it all the way to this obscure internet forum, and is reading these words, then the sentence “Nature is booming and burgeoning to a level not seen in my lifetime” probably does not seem crazy, or out-there, or weird.
But when the flock of birds or the school of fish turns, they do so apparently as one.
With props again to Don, the folks on the front end of things in terms of general awareness are like the trim tab on the rudder of the great ship that is humanity. The ship is turning.
In the reportage that follows, you can see that all manner of mayhem is decreasing steadily over time. You can also see how micro-level, plausible-deniability excuses are put forth to explain the macro-level decrease underway literally worldwide.
In Australia, it’s “changes to licensing systems.” In the United Arab Emirates, it’s “more bridges and fences along streets to prevent jaywalking.” In the U.K., “speed cameras”. How about the U.S.? “Better Auto-Safety Gear.” Unless you go to Colorado, where it is, hilariously, “legalized marijuana.”
If better Auto-Safety Gear caused lower car fatality levels in the U.S., how come the U.S. government’s enforcement of speed governors and seat belts in buses didn’t change the number of fatalities, there?
And, mulling all that over, just why have bus accidents and fatalities have dropped to an extent that the average monthly deaths five years ago are higher than are now recorded annually? Because of more bridges and fences along streets to prevent jaywalking? Because all the bus drivers are smoking weed?
Specious, micro-level, plausible-deniability excuses to avoid commenting on the larger, macro phenomenon: plummeting mayhem rates.
If U.S. traffic deaths have dropped to their lowest levels since 1949, why do I care that “driverless cars could reduce traffic fatalities by up to 90%”? I don’t, and neither do you. Driverless cars are obviously about Orwellian control, not citizen safety.
You can file this under the general heading of “the folks in charge are lying to you about basically everything.”
December 18, 2002 – Drunk Driving Death Rates Drop , But …
The nation’s alcohol-related traffic death rate has dropped by more than half during the past 20 years , a government study shows. But the chances of being killed by a driver who’s been drinking still vary significantly from state to state.
October 1, 2007 – Fatal Airplane Crashes Drop 65% - The New York Times
2011 - U.S. traffic deaths drop to lowest level since 1949
April 1, 2011 – Traffic Fatalities in 2010 Drop to Lowest Level in Recorded History …
2012 – EU: Significant drop in number of road accident fatalities
All Member States report decrease since 2002
2012 approximately 28,000 people died due to a road accident in the European Union. Compared to 2002 (54,000 deaths) this represents a decrease of more than 48%.
Latvia reported the most substantial decrease within the EU for this ten year period, with fatalities down by 68% , closely followed by Spain and Denmark (both -64%). In 2012, 3,600 people died in accidents on German roads. Ten years earlier the number of deaths amounted to 6,800. The drop of 47% in Germany almost equals the average EU decrease. Romania reported the lowest decrease of all EU countries, with road fatalities down by 15% from 2002 to 2012.
December 10, 2012 – Drunk Driving Fatalities Fall Below 10,000
June 6, 2014 – Australian road deaths drop by a quarter since 2004 , young drivers’ deaths halve
Road safety authorities say changes to licensing systems are a factor in fewer young people dying on Australian roads.
Testing for alcohol, drugs and enforcing speed limits is also helping : professor
June 7, 2013 – Reality check: do speed cameras reduce serious road accidents? | UK …
December 19, 2014 – Better Auto-Safety Gear Reduces U.S. Traffic Deaths – WSJ
January 6, 2015 - The Downside Of Cheaper Gas: More Accident Fatalities : NPR
June 28, 2015 – UAE road deaths sharply decreasing every year | The National
The latest nationwide statistics show an 8.1 per cent drop from 1,340 to 1,232 in the number of traffic accidents in the first three months of this year, compared with the same period last year.
“I can say that the roads are much safer now,” said Ammar Al Tayeb, 50, a driving instructor from Sudan. “We now have more bridges and fences along streets to prevent jaywalking.”
July 23, 2015 – Why bus accident rates are dropping - Reviews & Profiles - Daily Monitor
The accidents and fatalities have dropped to an extent that the average monthly deaths five years ago are higher than are now recorded annually.
Police Traffic and Road Safety Director, Dr Steven Kasiima, says fatalities in bus accidents have dropped for the third year running .
“Bus passenger deaths decreased by 27 per cent in 2014 (17 passengers).
The big question is: What has led to the decrease in fatalities in bus accidents?
Previously, several traffic regulations had been tried to curb bus accidents in vain . In 2007, it was believed that the accidents were a result of speeding and the fatalities were due to lack of seat belts for passengers.
So, the government enforced speed governors and seat belt in buses and ensured that implementation was 95 per cent. Fatalities remained unchecked .
Mr Winstone Katushabe, the secretary Transport Licensing Board, says the regulations still had gaps. “A bus driver would crash a bus and kill tens of passengers and leave them there. In a few months, he is hired by another bus company where he is given charge of another bus,” Mr Katushabe says. “And the cycle would go on and on”.
Police and TLB would go for bus owner by grounding the entire fleet or subject it to inspection. Often these actions were detrimental both to the passengers and bus owners.
Some areas could only be accessed by certain bus services. The pains of grounding the entire bus fleet would spread all the way to business in some areas.
October 1, 2015 – Driverless cars could reduce traffic fatalities by up to 90% , says report …
September 13, 2015 – Road fatalities in Colorado have plummeted since marijuana was legalized
December 17, 2015 – US traffic fatalities, gun deaths sharply decrease - CSMonitor.com