THIS WILL BE SHORT.
THERE WAS A REPORT released by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) on 4 June 2020.
Reuters1 ran a story about the report on 5 June. The publication’s headline reads
Self-driving cars might only prevent a third of crashes, study shows
The headline and article were picked up by numerous other publications.
According to the Goddard & Wagoner site2 There are approximately 6 million accidents that take place each year in the U.S. and 90 lives will be lost in car accidents each day. Every year car accidents will cause 3 million people to be injured and more than two million will sustain serious, permanent injuries.
Let’s see. By simple math, 1/3rd of 6 million would be — 2 million accidents avoided.
According to the National Safety Council (NSC)3, In 2019, an estimated 38,800 people lost their lives to car crashes – a 2% decline from 2018 (39,404 deaths) and a 4% decline from 2017 (40,231 deaths). About 4.4 million people were injured seriously enough to require medical attention in crashes last year – also a 2% decrease over 2018 figures.
If 1/3rd if the fatalities for 2019 were avoided, that would be 1,200 lives not lost in traffic mishaps.
Reducing by 1/3rd the 4.4 million people injured in traffic accidents would eliminate 1,452,000 injuries.
Granted, the 1/3rd reduction probably is not “across the board,” but if the number of accidents is down, the number of fatalities and injuries logically also will be down.
The New York Times4 offers the only positive headline
Self-Driving Sector Contends Its Cars Can Prevent Many More Crashes Than Insurance Study Says
reporting that the self-driving industry quickly responded that its cars were programmed to prevent a vastly higher number of potential crash causes, including more complex errors caused by drivers making inadequate or incorrect evasive maneuvers.
Taking those design choices into account, autonomous vehicles could avoid some 72% of crashes, said Partners for Automated Vehicle Education, a consortium of self-driving technology companies.
Aside from the fact the an organization cannot “say” anything — a spokesperson may speak for the organization — readers of both the IIHS and the Partners for Automated Vehicle Education reports will have to decide what to believe. At least the NYT cited its source.
Sources
1. Reuters: https://tinyurl.com/y9gfclnx
2. Goddard & Wagoner: https://tinyurl.com/y9roq4jj
3. NSC: https://tinyurl.com/yaw65hsr
4. NYT: https://tinyurl.com/y8qm74vu
PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.
Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.
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