SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Jalopnik has a story about how the Norwegian capital, Oslo, recorded only one death on its roads in 2019.
Speed limit laws and reducing the very presence of cars in the city center and downtown areas have resulted in a very aggressive, downward trend of traffic-related fatalities in the Nordic country's capital city. There was only one traffic-related death in Oslo in all of 2019.
No children were killed in traffic in Norway last year, Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten reported.
There was only one road-related death of a pedestrian, cyclist or child in 2019 in Oslo. No children were killed in traffic in Norway last year, either.
Norway plans to reach "Vision Zero", and eliminate road-related deaths within four years and do more to reduce, and ultimately eliminate, serious injuries.
The only person who died last year, according to Aftenposten, was a man whose car crashed into a fence in June.
This sharp decline is due to the fact that Oslo heavily regulates places where people are allowed to drive and has set strict speed limits. The city is also very friendly towards cycling and walking.
Olso's road fatality rate for 2019 was 0.1 death per 100,000 people. American States vary between 12 and 26 per 100,000 people
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 15 2020, @06:56AM (1 child)
Fewer deaths, perhaps? I see more point in relating deaths to lives than to vehicle-kilometers.
I don't know about Oslo, but I've lived in an area with excellent public transport (in and near Amsterdam) for all my life and never felt an urge to get a drivers licence, because I've never felt limited in my abilitiy to get around. I'm nearly 60 now and still perfectly happy without a car.
Of course I would miss a car if I was used to having and constantly using one and would suddenly have to do without. That doesn't mean I'm currently living with a hidden cost, I've just adjusted to different circumstances. A different job leads to different adjustments, a different partner leads to different adjustments, life is full of adjustments; it would be nonsensical to label them all as hidden costs. You can live a perfectly satisfying life without having a car in an area where your transportation needs are covered in a different way. Don't assume that a different life style than you are used to represents hidden costs, just because you would have some trouble adjusting to it. It's quite possible that the opposite transition would be just as troublesome and that what you're used to has its own share of "hidden costs".
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday January 18 2020, @04:15AM
"Adjustments" are typical signs of hidden costs. And why do they need to remove cars from the city centers, if mass transit is so much better? People aren't acting in ways that indicate they agree with your assessment.