More than 37,000 over the course of 2017—what would statistically be considered a ‘good year.’ Big tech has a solution: Have the cars drive themselves, free of the distractions, drunkenness, and other human foibles. Flood the roads with autonomous vehicles, and watch collision deaths plummet.
Too bad this lovely narrative has a major plot hole: Blunt force trauma isn’t the only way cars kill. Each year, hundreds of thousands of people die prematurely from breathing exhaust-poisoned air. Even more insidious is how the mere act of sitting in a car for an hour or so each day drastically increases peoples’ risks of developing life-altering—sometimes life-ending—conditions like obesity and heart disease.
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