Mildly Infuriating

They are not alike. It’s a dumb comparison. Transport (albeit flawed) brings many more advantages than shooting people. That’s why people accept cars more than guns.

that ignore safety in favour of driver convenience

How about one better? Municipalities that ignore both safety and driver convenience in favor of feeling good about helping the environment, or so they perceive. The end result of more pollution, more hazardous navigational conditions for everyone, and more problems.

Example, a state law that made it so bicyclists no longer have to come to a stop at intersections. It was a feel-good measure to make things easier for bicyclists so they're not having to come to a complete stop over and over. In implementation, it just means a car driving 55MPH comes up to a green traffic light intersection that would ordinarily be safe, except one of the cross-directions has trees blocking the side road, so a bike comes chugging down the hill at 35MPH and blazes through their red light right in front of the much heavier and slower to stop car. (C.R.S. § 42‑4‑1412.5)

Now, couple that with another law that allows large trucks, buses, and RVs preferential treatment at roundabouts. All other vehicles must yield to the large vehicle no matter what. And going back to... the bike doesn't yield to anything. (C.R.S. § 42‑4‑715)

Welcome to Colorful Colorado.

People think the pandemic invited driver chaos, we were bold, and asked the universe, "hold my beer?"

You need three prongs, infrastructure, training and enforcement. No one wants to spend the large amount of $ it would take to redesign thousands of miles of roads in each city. There is also the issue of how ridiculously low the bar is set for getting a license and how basic safety inspections are. In my state I can count on one hand how many times I've seen highway patrols enforcing traffic laws.

Traffic engineers

They are just doing what they are being told. They don't have the authority to diviate in practice.

This is a political issue. Everything is captured by the shittiest lobby.

Health care > health insurance and pharma

Infra > cars and oil

Privacy > tech firms

There is nothing a slave can do via direct action in these jobs since they will fire you and out somebody in place who will follow orders.

Car guns. Fully automatic.

Why does the absolute number matter? Why does the rate matter?

The claim is that cars and guns are equally deadly in Chicago, with the observation that gun deaths are reported more.

If this is 3 people or 30 thousand people, the critique is the same.

If this is 1 in 10 million people or 1 in 10 people, the critique is the same.

We should be retaking driver tests every seven to ten years to keep our license.

Poorly designed roads, signage, and intersections cause a lot of accidents. Think on ramps that throw you into traffic, and off-ramps that want you to get over three lanes after exiting in order to turn right at your cross street.

Lack of traffic enforcement drives up insurance costs and reduces city revenues. Some states have cheaped out on the reflective paint used to stripe roads, so you can’t see lane dividers in the rain. More of that wonderful “deregulation” and people not wanting to pay taxes I guess.

It also doesn’t help that many states are getting rid of car inspections for some bizarre reason. Not great to avoid shit falling off of the car in front of you when you’re going 70 mph.

it shouldn’t be taken lightly

Well, of course not. It's 2 tons!

I'll get out...

Right. I can't ride my gun to work or the grocery store. I get that there's a lot of negatives associated with car culture, but it's a tool in a way that firearms are not.

Yeah, cars aren't even designed to kill people and they still do it just as much as guns. They're way too dangerous to be legal.

Cars, roads, and car culture are inflicting harm though, even if it’s seen as a neutral tool by many

Yeah heart disease kills more than either but we don’t hold candlelight vigils to ban butter. Because food is a normal part of life. I know a lot of people grow up with guns, but to me, guns are weird. I don’t know anyone who owns a gun. Not that I know of anyway. I have never held a gun. I have never seen a gun, except strapped to a cop walking by. I hope to never touch a gun (or be touched by one).

They're not the same. This is privilege speaking, I know, but gun violence mostly occurs between people who know each other. I'm not in those circles or neighborhoods, so only the occasional mass shooting might affect me.

But cars? They're omnipresent. There's a steady stream of them in front of my home, so I can't avoid the danger. My life is threatened by cars every damn day, and my quality of life degraded by them. And you can't tell me that driving a car around a city is anything but sociopathic disregard for the well-being of others, because that's what it amounts to.

Cars as bad as guns? No, they're worse.