All 370,000 road fatalities between 2001 and 2009 in the US.
My hope is that one day automobiles will be as safe as flying. This is one of the largest health issues in America that we seem to forget. Life expectancy is one of the most important health metrics we use. Life expectancy for a population is significantly reduced when young people are disproportionately killed. Car and motorcycle crashes disproportionately kill young people, just as HIV/AIDS disproportionately kills young people in South Africa:
In less than two decades, life expectancy in South Africa dropped almost 20 years because so many young people were dying!
Our current life expectancy in America is about 78 years. If we made the automobile as safe as the airplane (and saved those 370,000 young souls over the past 8 years), our life expectancy would grow by many years, which is much, much more significant than anything coming from doctors with their pills and scalpels.
