Since 1968 Kids Are 705 Percent Safer From Cars
This happened at the same time mileage increased by 116 percent.
The CDC reports that from 1968 to 1978 there were 27,442 kids ages 5-14 killed by motor vehicles. For the decade 2010 to 2020, fatalities dropped by 87.5 percent to 3,411. Kids are over 8 times safer today from car accidents. Kid passengers are 2.26 times safer, kid pedestrians are 18 times safer, and kid bicyclists are 21.2 times safer. Overall safety for kids has increased by 705 percent. We also note that from 1968 to 2022, average miles per gallon increased 116 percent from 12.2 to 26.6. We are enjoying a superabundance of safety and mileage.
Tip of the Hat: Jeremy Horpendahl
We describe the process of transforming scarcities into abundances in our new book, Superabundance, available at Amazon. Jordan Peterson calls it a “profoundly optimistic book.” There has never been a better time to create more life.
Gale Pooley is a Senior Fellow at the Discovery Institute and a board member at Human Progress.
Also note that fewer kids are “playing in the streets” these days. Fewer bicycles and more video games.
This is an excellent example of how technological innovation can overcome the negative consequences of technological innovation.
The automobile was clearly one of the most important innovations of the last two centuries, but it also undoubtedly killed many people. Rather than banning cars, we instead innovated new technologies to make them safer (ABS braking, seat belts, airbags, driver assist technologies, etc).