An Examination of the Dangers and Overall Harmfulness of Automobiles

Humankind has come a long way in just the last one hundred years. In fact, many believe that the rate of growth of technology is too fast, and humans need time to adapt and perfect existing technology. Perhaps the best example of this is automobiles, which are, aside from cigarettes and alcohol, the most dangerous and lethal invention humans have made in the last century.

One of the most basic ways to determine the harmfulness of a particular technology is to look at the overall fatality rate of it. In the case of automobiles, the fatality figures are staggering. In 2012, automobiles claimed the lives of 33,561 Americans, which is far more than many other dangers that perhaps get more media attention, such as murders or gun violence (DoT, 1). Automobiles are not just dangerous because they kill many people, they are also responsible for a large amount of injury, risk, and financial harm. Estimates indicate almost 11million car crashes occur in the United States each year, and while a relatively small number of those actually result in deaths, the financial and medical costs each time is tremendous (DoT, 2). Of course, these deaths are not, strictly speaking, the fault of the automobiles themselves. The human element is a factor here, and many humans simply do not possess the (admittedly few) skills or sound judgment required in order to operate an automobile. Perhaps, for this reason, many companies, such as Google, are looking to partially remove the human element from vehicles in order to make them safer for pedestrians and fellow drivers with their self-driving automobiles.

Another reason automobiles are extremely harmful is because they supplement another deadly human invention: alcoholic beverages. In fact, of the approximately 30,000 deaths caused each year by auto accidents, about a third of those are directly related to drunk driving (DoT, 2). This means that automobiles effectively multiply the fatalities caused by other sources of harmfulness and strife such as alcohol. In addition, automobiles, being operated by humans, are prone to human errors in judgment such as road rage, texting while driving (which accounts for 23% of all automobile collisions), and applying makeup while driving. Even those who are otherwise perfect drivers will eventually fall prey to other common driving problems, such as using cell-phones and sleepy driving, which the latter causes about 56,000 total crashes and 1,500 deaths each year (Mahowald, 25). Even drivers who are never sleepy and are otherwise perfect drivers can and have fallen prey to both mechanical failures or unfortunate encounters with those who drink or text and drive or otherwise are inferior drivers.

The point here is that automobiles are powerful tools, and these tools magnify many of the problems with human nature, such as anger, drunkenness, or sleepiness. Of course, it is almost impossible to change human nature, so the only solution is to change the tool itself, and the only way to do this is to remove this human element. This is not to say that automobiles are not extremely useful and valuable tools and the vast majority of people can use 100% effectively, but the fact remains that they do cause a great deal of death and suffering at the cost of extreme convenience. Unfortunately, unlike many other human vices, such as alcohol and drugs, automobiles are generally not optional.

Works Cited

Mahowald, Mark W. "Eyes Wide Shut. The Dangers of Sleepy Driving." Minnesota Medicine, 83, 8, (2000): 25.

U.S. Department of Transportation (DoT). Early Estimate of Motor Vehicle Traffic Fatalities for the First Nine Months (January–September) of 2012. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. 2012.