There are only 36 states represented here by my count. It says “major” states, whatever that means. But 14 in total are missing either because of their smaller populations, or because their fatality rate is low enough that they would fall off the right hand side of the chart and thus wouldn’t fit the “America Drivers Bad” narrative quietly being implied, here.
Edit: I looked up the numbers for my state in the same year (and no, I’m not telling the public which one). We would be at 1.2 on this chart if my math is correct, which is well below even the shortest bar for Victoria, there.
I decided to look and found that this metric is almost always measured by vehicle distance travelled rather than by population. Basically the graph OP shared is useless and meant to support a narrative, as you stated.
Does that mean that Canadians in Alberta, Quebec, and Ontario simply don’t drive long distances inside their provinces? That doesn’t track with what I’ve seen when visiting all three provinces.
Calgary relatives: “oh I’m just going to zip up to Edmonton for the day” or go for a coffee 40km to the other side of town or just do the daily 130km commute etc.
For AB I’m thinking its more “I can’t afford to live in Banff, but that’s where work is so a place in Canmore is where I call home with a 30 min commute each way.”
Or “Yeah I like living in Red Deer, but it means a 1.5 hour drive one way if I want to see the Flames beat the skates off the Leafs when they’re in town.”
I think it’s kinda interesting still, in that it shows people are (must?) drive so much. But yes, agree that per cap seems like the wrong statistic for any kind of safety.
Maybe more fair would be transit fatalities per mile traveled (any method)?
While I’d prefer to see every state and province represented, I imagine only metro areas matter here anyway. The dangers of the road are quite different when your largest city has a sliver of density compared to the rest, though by that token, density is probably a factor that even large states should account for (which would probably put NYC very low on the list lol)
Where are Idaho, Wyoming and Montana?
There are only 36 states represented here by my count. It says “major” states, whatever that means. But 14 in total are missing either because of their smaller populations, or because their fatality rate is low enough that they would fall off the right hand side of the chart and thus wouldn’t fit the “America Drivers Bad” narrative quietly being implied, here.
Edit: I looked up the numbers for my state in the same year (and no, I’m not telling the public which one). We would be at 1.2 on this chart if my math is correct, which is well below even the shortest bar for Victoria, there.
I decided to look and found that this metric is almost always measured by vehicle distance travelled rather than by population. Basically the graph OP shared is useless and meant to support a narrative, as you stated.
Does that mean that Canadians in Alberta, Quebec, and Ontario simply don’t drive long distances inside their provinces? That doesn’t track with what I’ve seen when visiting all three provinces.
Calgary relatives: “oh I’m just going to zip up to Edmonton for the day” or go for a coffee 40km to the other side of town or just do the daily 130km commute etc.
For AB I’m thinking its more “I can’t afford to live in Banff, but that’s where work is so a place in Canmore is where I call home with a 30 min commute each way.”
Or “Yeah I like living in Red Deer, but it means a 1.5 hour drive one way if I want to see the Flames beat the skates off the Leafs when they’re in town.”
Yep, all of that too: Okotoks and Airdrie are basically suburbs now.
I think it’s kinda interesting still, in that it shows people are (must?) drive so much. But yes, agree that per cap seems like the wrong statistic for any kind of safety.
Maybe more fair would be transit fatalities per mile traveled (any method)?
Yes. The preferred method is per distance travelled.
While I’d prefer to see every state and province represented, I imagine only metro areas matter here anyway. The dangers of the road are quite different when your largest city has a sliver of density compared to the rest, though by that token, density is probably a factor that even large states should account for (which would probably put NYC very low on the list lol)