These statistics should be a wake-up call for the US. While the automotive industry continues to promote driving as a lifestyle, and gas prices are low, the love affair continues while people die.
America’s Car Culture is Literally Shortening Your Life: Study
“Driving is driving us to the grave.
Life expectancy at birth declined steeply in the U.S. in 2015 and 2016, a new British Journal of Medicine study reports — a finding that was attributed partly to the opioid crisis, but also to America’s ongoing traffic violence problem.”
“So while the opioid addiction grabs headlines, cars have quietly remained a leading killer. In 2015, for example, the U.S. traffic fatality rate jumped 9 percent. And in 2016, it jumped again 5.6 percent, wiping out nearly a decade of improvements. It was the biggest two-year jump in 50 years.
Traffic fatalities have long been a leading cause of death of Americans, and in 2015, they were the 13th leading cause of death in the U.S. overall. But because cars kill a disproportionately high number of younger people, they rank seventh in total years of life lost.
https://usa.streetsblog.org/2018/08/24/americas-car-culture-is-literally-shortening-your-life-study/