What might the U.S. learn from Canada’s vision for having the safest roads in the world?
Check out some of their plans: Canadian Road Safety Strategy 2016
“‘In short, don’t educate—or hector or threaten—for safety’s sake: design for it. After all, as [Neil] Arason [author of No Accident] is fond of quoting from a New England Journal of Medicine editorial, safety caps on prescription medication have saved more children’s lives than endless exhortations to their parents.
“When the life-saving potential of drivers and roads are exhausted, turn to what Arason considers the most important leg of the tripod, the vehicles themselves. They have been getting safer for decades for those inside them, at a steady if slow pace. In 1950,Popular Mechanics magazine was already campaigning for the seat belts that would not become mandatory for decades, urging its readers to order the belts from aircraft manufacturers and install them themselves. Helpful measures now would include banning the bull bars so deadly to pedestrians.
“Above all, governments should mandate the safety features already offered as options on higher-end cars, prompting new economies of scale that would force down prices. . .
“’I really think we are at a golden moment, a turning point,’ Arason says. ‘The technology is here, and only getting cheaper. They are doing these things in Europe. If we start with what Canadians can buy into—better regulations, safer roads, getting higher-risk drivers off the road—we can change things by 2035.
“‘I know in my heart we can get there: Zero fatalities.’” http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/the-cure-for-killer-cars/
