Death By Inertia

clipped from ace.mu.nu What happens when vehicles we all drive are legislated out of existence? Americans behind the wheel die. According to a 2003 NHTSA study, when a vehicle is reduced by 100 pounds the estimated fatality rate increases as much as 5.63 percent for light cars weighing less than 2,950 pounds, 4.70 percent for heavier cars weighing over 2,950 pounds and 3.06 percent for light trucks. Between model years 1996 and 1999, these rates translated into additional traffic fatalities of 13,608 for light cars, 10,884 for heavier cars and 14,705 for light trucks.12 * A 2001 National Academy of Sciences panel found that constraining automobile manufacturers to produce smaller, lighter vehicles in the 1970s and early 1980s "probably resulted in an additional 1,300 to 2,600 traffic fatalities in 1993."13 Every. Goddamned initiative. Kills people. They are killing us with their rules. The rules we thought, when they initiated them, were intended to save lives. No more. And they do not care. At all.